A Dream and Regret
by amanda.goddard.982
Summary: Lyra has always lived a normal life, and has hated it! So whenever two handsome guys roll into town asking about strange murders she jumps on board. Soon she's talked her way into joining a witch hunt, but what if this ends up being the worst decision she has ever made? Dean warned her that this life drags people in, and never lets them go. She wishes she had listened to him.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone, so I'm back again with another Supernatural fanfiction. I've been dying to write recently and this seems to be the easiest for me to write. This story takes place in late season one, so slight spoilers if you just started watching the show. Also as usual with my fanfiction the story line differs from the original show where my story picks up. Of course I don't own the characters or any part of Supernatural, and I hope you all enjoy!**

I slid my finger lightly against the side of the beautiful vehicle, the black surface inviting and elegant against the bright green trees. I knew it was rude to stop and stare at someones car, I had hated my whole life when people did it, but I couldn't help it. I was too enamored with the Chevy Impala. "You like it?" I heard a gruff voice ask. My head jerked up in alarm, the deep voice surprising me. "It's okay, as long as you don't hurt it, you'd be surprised how many people stop to admire." I stepped out of the way to let the twenty-something year old open the trunk and throw a duffel bag in. "Dean, Dean Winchester." He said and held out his hand.

Shaking it I blushed slightly. I had just started my first semester at the community college right there in my little town, and not even there was there a single boy as attractive, charming, and outright sinful looking man. "Is it a 68' or a 67'?" I asked him genuinely curious. I was no car expert, but Chevy was my favorite car company and, in my opinion, the 60's were the best time for vehicles. "Of course, I could be totally wrong, but with the body shape, and the pointed head lights, it just looks like it'd be from around that time. I'm, Lyra, by the way." I finished, just realizing I hadn't introduced myself.

"It's a 67', good eye." He answered, leaning against the just previously closed trunk. "So, uh, me and my brother are new and town and were wondering where we could find Crowder College, I mean you'd think it's a college it'd be easy to find." He seemed slightly ticked that he wasn't able to locate my school. "According to our GPS it should be right in this area, but nope!" I couldn't help but laugh at him.

"Don't worry it's kind of tucked away, back behind the airport, I just got off work, I have to go to classes, so if you and your brother want you can follow me." I offered, of course part of me was a little scared he was bad news, but he was also so attractive, and I was so done being careful. I had just gotten out of a serious relationship that previous spring, and had even moved out when I started college. Not only did I start hanging out with my friends less due to school, I also took a manager position at the retail clothing store I'd worked at since my Junior year of high school. I was reinventing myself, and somehow I knew that very attractive stranger was a vital, albeit short, addition.

"If that's not too much trouble?" He asked hopeful. "I mean my baby brother's still in their paying for our food, but once he's done were ready, can you wait a minute or two?" He asked. I looked over at the Mexican restaurant and nodded. "Here, you can sit up here with me so you don't have to stand in those God awful shoes." He said pointing at my heels, I chuckled and lifted myself onto the back of the vehicle next to him.

"Thanks, and yeah I agree, but a dress code is a dress code, and there's no way in hell I'm giving up that job until I have my degree. My boss is super sweet and the pay is pretty good, plus the company is fair, major holidays were closed, and minor ones we're only opened for a few hours, and we rotate those shifts." I explained. "Now, as soon as I get my degree I'm getting the hell out of here, about five years ago my family moved from St. Louis, it was a culture shock to say the least..." I trailed off, realizing that I had just gone into another one of my lengthy rants. "Anyways, what brings you and your brother here? New students?" I asked as I saw another kid, closer to my age walk towards us from the building.

"Have you heard about the murders happening lately?" He asked me hopping down and opening his driver side door. "Me and my brother are kind of in to studying the whole cult thing, so we had to come check it out." Dean got in, closed the door and then rolled down the window.

"Of course, most interesting thing to ever happen to this place, but what does it have to do with the school?" I asked him, his brother finally got there and I nodded my head, deciding to address him quickly as to not be rude. "I'm Lyra, I hear you and your brother need an escort to the college." The taller boy frowned glaring at his older brother, but nodded.

"Sam, and yeah, we were looking around for like an hour, before stopping to eat." He said and also got in the vehicle. "You know where it is?"

"Of course I do, now, Dean was just in the middle of telling me something." I said and turned back towards the first Winchester I had met, I was impatient, I wanted him to explain.

"If you really want to know, I'll explain it." Dean said flashing me a smile, I knew he was playing me, and just wanted in my pants, but I also knew that my cousin/roomate, didn't care if I brought a boy home. "Now, are you going to show us the way or not?"

I blushed, realizing they were waiting on me. "Sorry!" I said suddenly. "I'm in the shitty Neon." I told them walking swiftly to my own car. I got in and practically squealed as I started up the engine. He was so cute, and so worth skipping classes that day for. Not too mention he was into the cult, something I'd been fascinated in for years. Though I was majoring in graphic design, you could see the cultist influence in my art style.


	2. Chapter 2

**Another chapter coming at you for the New Year! I hope everyone is having a good day and has a good 2018!**

I parked my car towards the back of the parking lot, even though there were spaces further up it was just easier to pull in out from the back. Turning down my music I shut off my car and opened my door, by the time I was closing the two Winchesters were getting out of their own vehicle. I looked up at the main building for Crowder college, Farber, it housed a good chunk of the offices and the library, plus multiple meeting rooms. For being a college it was a small campus, just a few building with a court yard in the middle.

"All right, what was it you said you needed?" I asked them, as we headed towards the building. "Library?" I guessed, thinking that they just wanted to check out some books on the local lore, saying that there wasn't a lot of those in the area libraries.

"Actually we need the Elsie Plaster building." Sam told me pulling a couple of papers out of his backpack as we walked. I couldn't help but chuckle at how in place he looked, walking around with a book bag and the terribly nerdy hair cut. "There's been two deaths that were located in that building you know." He explained. I opened the doors to the first building Farber, and led them straight through out the back door into the courtyard, where we walked straight across.

"I knew there had been deaths, but I didn't realize they were both in the same building, especially this one, it's the art center." As we neared the building I recognized more and more students, saying that I was in classes with a lot of them. "I know it well, actually, I'm a graphic design major, so I spend a lot of time here." We walked into the small building, it wasn't anything special, just more tile flooring, and more plain walls, and doors, leading into classrooms. "So I know you said you were like cultist buffs, but what exactly to the deaths in Elsie Plaster have to do with that?" I knew for a fact there were no cults going on in that town, hell there probably never were any cults going on in that town at any time. It was founded by bible thumping farmers.

Dean just kind of shifted uncomfortbably, while Sam cleared his throat, after a few moments of awkward silence Dean finally answered. "You see the deaths were suspicious, people locked in rooms and committing suicide, without leaving a note, and both of them had good lives." He told me, it almost seemed like it was painful for him to tell me that. "Look, we just think it could have a connection to something supernatural, like we said were kind of crazy about that stuff, we just want to check the place out for kicks and giggles."

I nodded, unconvinced. "Where did they off themselves?" I asked, wondering why the papers had left out that they were suicides, maybe the families didn't want their loved ones' memories tainted by the public's last, and probably only impression of the deceased.

"The first one was in the janitors closet on the west side of the building." Sam said, reading off of his papers again. "It's between room 104 and 106." I paused a moment trying to think of which hallways exactly those rooms were down, after contemplating for a moment I randomly chose a direction and started walking, using the room numbers as a guide to try and get my bearings. "You have no idea where you're going do you?" Sam asked.

"I have some idea!" I protested.

"Here give me that!" Dean said yanking the papers out of Sam's hand. "I'll figure it out you two follow me." He said impatiently. I frowned, feeling a little awkward.

"Don't worry he's just pissed because it's four and he hasn't had a single drink yet." Sam told me, jumping out of the way when Dean tried to kick behind him and hit Sam. I grinned again, realizing neither of them were being too serious and were messing around.

"So do you two just drive around and look for stuff like this, or did you really drive up from Kansas just for a couple of deaths?" I had just remembered that their liscense plate was from Kansas, which wasn't too far, but still seemed a little ridiculous to me to drive up to my tiny town.

"Uh no..." Sam said trailing off, I frowned, beginning to get a little concerened over their identities.

"We're here visiting family." Dean said quickly, too quickly. I decided to let it be for now and just ask them later, if anything seemed too fishy. Finally we found the janitors closet and the two guys walked in looking around and digging through the cleaning supplies, I raised an eyebrow watching them, but didn't say anything. It took them a few minutes, they kept asking each other, vague, coded questions, that they both seemed to understand perfectly. Eventually one called the other over, they discussed it for a moment, and picked an item up off the ground that they quickly pocketed. That's when I couldn't keep my mouth shut any longer.

"What was that?" I asked following them back out of the building, they ignored me. "Excuse me, not even going to show a little gratitude to the person who helped you figure out where this was!?" I was getting a little angry. Finally I just shoved my way between the two and stood blocking their way. "Will you please tell me what the hell is going on!" I demanded.

Dean angrily held up a small leather bag with a familiar symbol drawn on it, it was a hex bag. "Let's just say you shouldn't come back to classes for a while, wait until we get out of town." He said before practically picking me up and setting me down out of the way. I stood stunned for a minute confused, there couldn't seriously be witches in Neosho, and not to mention how the hell did those things even work! I mean, I had down research on it, but I never thought it was really plausible.


	3. Chapter 3

**So for those of you who have read any of my other work, I'm sure your thinking that this one is going pretty slow. Well you are right, I wanted to drag this one out, show more details, and spend more time shaping my characters. Anyways please R &R, even flames are welcome!**

In a second I was chasing after the two, my mind reeling, trying to put all of the pieces together. "Wait, what do you mean when you all leave, what are you going to do!" I was shouting across the courtyard at them, drawing attention to both myself and them, effectively making the older one turn and walk back towards me glaring. Sure I was slightly afraid, and ninety percent sure none of this stuff was real, but if there was a chance it was, I wanted to be apart of it.

"Look, there is a witch coven in this town, hell, probably in this college, it'd dangerous and witch hunts are always messy." He whisper shouted at me, grabbing my arm and gently, yet firmly leading me back towards his brother and the door. "You need to stay out of the school and off campus, and if you have any friends here, you might want to tell them too."

"You're going on a witch hunt?" I asked, now whispering too. "Because if you are I want to be apart of it." Sam rolled his eyes at me, and Dean grunted in disgust. Apparently it was a bad thing to want to help stop people from dying. "Look I'm not dumb, it's going to be dangerous, and I promise I'll stay out of the way, but you're going on a witch hunt I want to see it!" I yanked my arm away from him. "You can't get rid of me, it was your mistake telling me what you were doing, now you have to deal with it." I snarled.

Dean shoved past me over to his brother. "Yeah, let me know how doing this with us works whenever you can't find us!" He shouted back at me, his smirk and charming attitude completely gone. I grunted in frustration watching the two complete the walk through the building and onto the parking lot. I paced the concrete entry way in front of Farber, thinking of what to do. Of course I couldn't leave the issue alone, not after hearing there may be a chance that all of this was real, because if it was I had to be there to see it, I had to know. After about fifteen minutes I finally decided that later that evening I'd go to the only hotels in town and find them, there was no way in hell I was letting this go.

So, for the moment I went back home. Rushing in the door I flew passed my roommates and ran into my room, breaking out my laptop and looked up the hotels that were in Neosho. After gathering the list of only six hotels, I decided to forge a reason why I wouldn't be going to classes and sent my only friend the same message. I spent the whole evening hold up in my room, my cousin didn't think much of it, it wasn't much different than what I usually did. At about eight in the evening I put on my shoes and ventured out of my lair. "I'm going to go back into town and pick up some stuff from Walmart." I told them grabbing my keys and heading out the door.

As I turned on my vehicle I thought for a moment about how little time I actually spent with them, I shrugged it off. It wasn't like they ever stopped to spend time with me either. It took me about thirty minutes to get to the first hotel, and three in I finally found them. "Hi, I'm looking for Sam and Dean Winchester, I'm a good friend of theirs, so if there's anyway you could call their room and let them know that I'm here, that'd be great." I said batting my eyelashes at the younger teenager who was working the front desk that night. It was a little local Inn, and was probably family owned.

"If you were really friends with them, wouldn't you just call their cells?" He asked me like I was an idiot. I sighed resisting my urge to reach up and smack his smug little snarky face.

"Well, when somebody let's their phone die, it's kind of hard to call them on in." I said shortly, my annoyance clear.

"Alright, alright, I'll give their room a call and let them know you're here." He said and picked up the phone. I leaned over the counter slightly to check out the number that he was dialing, hoping that, like most hotels, the number was their room number. 204, I thought to myself, trying to memorize the three digits, of course no one answered. "Apparently their not there." The kid said hanging up the phone. "I'm really sorry, maybe you should try them tomorrow." He offered.

I nodded with a smile. "No problem they're probably all out at a bar." With that I turned around and walked out of the small office, into the open night air. I took a right, looking for the steps that led to the second story of the building. Like most cheaper motels, the rooms opened up onto a small balcony instead of inside the building. I wasn't complaining about it though, it made my life easier.

I found room 204, took a deep breath, stood up straight, and knocked. I instantly regretted my decision to stock two strangers, two strange men that is, and go to their shady motel room a lone, and knock on their door. Along with the fact that no one knew where I was at, or what I was doing.


	4. Chapter 4

"What the hell are you doing?" Dean said after opening the door and seeing me. I used all of my weight and my shoulder to shove my way past him and into the hotel room, gathering my courage. I had just a moment to scan the multiple weapons strung out around the bed, before Dean shoved me past it and in the kitchenette area where Sam was sitting at the table, which was covered in books. "Seriously you should not be here!"

I rolled my eyes, but jumed a little when he shoved me down in my chair. "I wanted to come see what exactly you two were doing, and planning." I said confused, and suddenly starting to lose my nerve. I hated my emotions, they always did this to me, up down, up down. "Anyways, what is all of this?" I asked looking around.

"That doesn't matter you know why?" Dean asked pointing a question at me, I looked over at Sam who just kind of glared at me, and shook my head, bug eyed. "Because you are going to walk out that door, stay away from us, and stay away from the school!" He shouted at me pointing his finger. My hands shot down under the chair, I white knuckled, pinning myself down against the chair. "You really think that's going to work? You're so childish."

I bit my lip, trying to think of something that convince them to let me stay. "Fine, I'll leave, and I won't ever talk to you all again." Sam nodded his head, looking back down towards his laptop, Dean just kind of turned and looked at me completely shocked. "But, I'm going back to school, and I'm going to make clear I know there's a coven of witches, making myself a suitable target." I said hoping that would work. There'd be only one real reason that two brothers would be after something so dangerous, especially as sensible as they seemed to be, to save the people who might get hurt.

"What!" Both of the Winchester brothers said in unison, I grinned leaning back, letting go of the chair, the bluff was a success. "If you're going to do that, we might as well just kill you now!" Sam said in protest. "You have no idea what were dealing with."

"That won't be an issue, if you two just let me in on this." I said adamantly. "I'm no novice so it's not like I'll be asking questions ever other minute, I just want to know what's going on, ever since I was ten I've studied this stuff, but never believed it could really exist. And now, here I sit, trying to figure out if my favorite fantasy, or worst nightmare has just come true."

"Definitely nightmare." Dean said and sat down, next to his brohter, across from me. "What exactly do you want to know?" He asked. I resisted the urge to jump up and squeal, he had conceded! "If you want a list of what's real it's a pretty safe bet to say that it all is." Dean rushed on, not even giving me a chance to ask anything.

"I just want to know about this case in particular." I said leaning back relaxing. It was less tense now, they didn't feel like a threat, and they realized that I really wasn't in this for the adrenaline, and I needed to continue to prove that I was taking this seriously. Not just so they'd take me seriously, but also because Dean was, well, attractive, and I ain't gonna lie, I wanted to impress him. Shoot me! He was cute! Anyways, as I was saying, convincing the brothers that I was capable, trustworthy, and not a liability.

Dean raised his eyebrows, it worked. "Alright, but no interrogation type questions, I'm serious that kind of crap gets on my nerves." Well damn, it worked, but I still pissed off the dirty blond. "Hell, we probably won't even know the answer to half of your questions."

"Well, can I ask how you know it's a witch?" I said starting at the beginning, it certainly wasn't the first question to come to mind, but it's the one that made the most sense to ask first. "I mean, is it the way people die, or...?" I trailed off, hoping that the question didn't seem to dimwitted to them. I'm sure there were obvious signs, and that the question would make them second guess me hanging around. I should've just kept my mouth shut and watch them. To my surprise, neither of the guys seemed to be annoyed by the question.

"Well, yes and no, the actual cause of death doesn't tell us a whole lot, other than the events are strange." It's Sam explaining, he seemed to a lot about this, how to word it and all at least. Dean on the other hand was the muscle. "After investigating we found this." Sam held up a little leather pouch. "It's called a hex bag, it's got symbols and certain ingredients in it, that paired with a powerful incantation can cause all kinds of things. The most common thing being death." I tried my hardest to hide the shock from my face. The younger boy sounded like he was spewing something from Dungeons and Dragons, and I loved it.

"Okay then, tiny leather bag equals witches." I summed up. Dean just nodded in reply. "So, like, witches, they're actually human so do you kill them?" I asked, I was honestly neutral to the answer. I was just curious because witches were literally human, they just made pacts with mythical creatures.

Dean nodded in reply. "Yes we kill them, at least the ones who harm people, we do have a few friends who are witches that make protection charms and such. As long as your fighting on the right side we'll leave you alone." Nodding my head I eyed the gun he was holding, he had snapped a piece of it together during the word fighting, probably to add emphasis. "So, since you're so insistent on tagging along why don't you help us out, do you know anyone in the school that hates the art programs, or who hates any of the victims." The smile I had been wearing earlier suddenly reappeared on my face. Oh I was so ready to help hunt a witch. Grab me an extra torch and pitchfork cause I was out for blood!

 **Alright guys, Christmas is finally over and I'm still on break so here's another chapter! I was lucky enough to get a new computer that is seriously nice this holiday, so I will be writing on it a lot more. Which means I may actually get around to publishing new stories. Anywho, remember to review!**


	5. Chapter 5

After an hour or two of the Winchesters answering most of my questions and me answering theirs they finally kicked me out. "Here take this." Sam handed me a different looking hex bag and I raised my eyebrows at him. "It's from one of the good guys, it'll help neutralize most any other kind of hex bag." I nodded my understanding, but I couldn't help but let concern leak into my thought. As if Sam was reading my mind he said. "If you really want to tag along with this and help then you will be targeted."

Snatching the hex bag from his hand, I nodded my goodbyes, and headed out the motel door. I'd be lying if I said that I didn't practically run to my vehicle, and blasted my music on the way home. Thoughts of murder and witches filled my head, finally realizing why Dean had denied telling me the things he did. Once you knew that things go bump in the night you can't ignore that. Sure I wasn't hunting them like the Winchesters, but I knew I'd never get a fully good night of sleep again, at least not with salt lining my window.

I made it home safely, and eventually crashed. I had classes the next day, no work, and after doing some exploring of Elsie Plaster, I had a meeting with the boys. Even though it was under some seriously weird circumstances, I couldn't help the fluttering in my chest at the thought of seeing Dean again. He was handsome, and had a bad boy look to him, who wouldn't fall for that hotty. My alarm sounded at seven thirty, giving me enough time to get ready, eat, and get the right supplies in my backpack before I had to head to classes. "I'll see you this evening Carli!" I called to my cousin, grabbing a water bottle and heading out the door before she can ask why I'm not coming home after classes.

Sadly none of my classes that day were over in the building housing the multiple crimes, which meant I had no excuse to miss, or be distracted through any of the lectures. Finally, four hours, and a snack later, I was done with everything normal I had to do for the day. Strolling across the courtyard that separated the main buildings from Elsie Plaster I clutched the hex bag that was in my pocket. I was scared that I'd end up being metaphorically jumped by a spell and that would be the death of me, but I couldn't chicken out. While I was sure that the boys wouldn't mind, Dean was cute, and I wanted to impress him. Not make an idiot out of myself by saying I could handle the supernatural and then chickening out on just a simple recon mission.

I pushed open the heavy glass door and felt the rush of warm air hit my face, instantly warming. The swarms of students walking here and there reminded me this was just another school building, one that I had spent quite a bit of time in. Soon I found myself walking up to the second floor, where the initial death had taken place, so far there had only been two, and we trying to keep it that way. I glanced both ways down the hall making sure no one was around, before I pushed open the door into the now un-accupied office. This was victim one, another staff member, as far as I could tell the instructor and the janitor had nothing to link them, but that's what we were trying to figure out.

Sadly the office was bare, the only thing remaining was a bouquet of flowers next to the plaque that read, Prof. Jordan. The instructor had been Alyssa Jordan, the pottery and music appreciation instructor. She was nice, and her loss was felt by all of her students, but I felt nothing in remorse for her. I didn't know her, met her only once, and hardly said hello, but most of all I was just annoyed that all of her belongings were already gone, I'd have to figure out who her closest family was. After a moment of searching the mostly empty class room, I found a small hex bag tucked up under the metal filing cabinet. That was good news, I'd at least have that to report to the hunters.

On my way out of the college, I stopped by the main offices to ask who Proffessor's next of kin was. Sure, I wanted to over achieve and show the guys I was useful, what's so wrong with that? "Hi, what can we do for you?" The secretary at the main desk said. I knew him from one of my classes, Jackson was his name, and while we weren't friends I was comfortable around him.

"Hey Jackson, I was hoping to send something to Professor Jordan's family, do you know who that'd be or where I would send those?" I asked. It took Jackson only a minute to dig out a piece of paper, and a sticky note, he copied whatever was on the paper to the note and handed it to me. "Thanks for the address, I'll see you around!" I said in reply and headed out to my neon. It was just a short ride to the little diner I was meeting the Winchesters at. I was feeling good, not only did I have a hex bag, I also knew her closest relatives.

I took a moment to fix my ponytail, and leather jacket before grabbing the hex bag and heading towards the building. I was sporting a super high ponytail, light makeup, and a simple outfit. I had on skinny jeans, combat boots, and just a plain t-shirt under my leather jacket as usual. Though the leather was a bit too hot inside of buildings. As soon as I walked into the restaurant I made a b-line to the hunters sitting down in an empty chair at their table. "Sweet you haven't started eating!" I said enthusiastically and laid the info I had gotten on the table. While the boys were inspecting the items, I ordered my drink, and a burger.

Even though I was investigating a murder, it had been a good day up to that point. Sure it was only about one in the afternoon, but I was optimistic, it felt good doing something more than just my normal routine. I felt like I was really apart of something and I liked that, who cared about the danger, it worth helping people. Well, that and hanging around an attractive hunk with an attractive car.


	6. Chapter 6

"Alright, so we'll head over to their house and do some interrogating." Dean said, while picking at his leftover fries. Him and Sam had spent the whole meal mumbling over the whole situation, and while I was annoyed with it I didn't ask to be let in the loop. I mean, yes they were letting me tag along and help, but that didn't mean they wanted me knowing everything. I respected that, honestly I didn't want to blow my chance to hang out with Dean, and to be apart of something like this. "We'll dig up some more information about the chick and then we can move on from there maybe we can come up with a suspect or motive."

I sputtered spitting my drink back in my cup coughing some. It was hilarious, those two would be completely joking around one minute and the next sound like they were on TV, and I couldn't help but laugh. "Sorry, sorry." I responded to their dirty looks. "It's just you all sound like you should be cops on a tv show." I shrugged, without saying anything Dean laid down the cash and stood up, Sam following shortly after. I sighed and grabbed my bag running after them. "So do I get to go with you to the house, or what...?" My words trailed off, I wanted to go with them, but I understood why they may not want me around a lot, or be too involved. They stressed just how dangerous this was the evening before.

"You can't come with us, they may know you, but what you can do is head over to the city library and see if you can find any old new articles that have any weird deaths on them. Look for books o even just odd snippets out of older magazines from, or about the area." Sam told me. "Give us your number and we'll call you when were done, and find out where you're at and go from there." I grinned, they were finally assigning me some actual work, and I was excited.

I rattled off my number to the boys before walking to my vehicle and starting it up. The library was just a few miles away, and I doubted that there a whole lot of strange deaths in my little town, so I wasn't too worried about how long it would take to find something that stood out. Soon I was pulling in at the front of a tall, skinny, plain looking building. The parking lot was mostly empty, which was probably due to the fact that it was the middle of the day, but that worked better for me. Walking into the library I made it up to the front desk. "Hi, I was wondering if I could get any news articles starting from a month ago going all the way back?" I asked nicely. The younger woman who was at the desk glared at me, but went to the back and grabbed a box and put it on one of the tables. I went over and sat down next to the box. "Thank you so much." I said and gave her a smile.

"That not all fo them." She snapped at me, five boxes later she was finally done, and after all of that I can't really blame her for having been so cranky towards me about it. The boxes weren't particularly light and there was a lot of them. I sighed and opened the one labeled with the most recent dates, and started scanning. Hours of reading later my phone buzzed, I looked at the fact that they were calling, sighed, and picked up the phone.

"Hey, what's up?" I said thankful for a break from the mind melting reading. "Please tell me that you figured it all out and I'm done here, because I ain't even done with box two out of five." I said exasperated, yes, of course I was thankful that I was given a chance to actually do something beneficial, but reading through old news papers sucked.

"Sorry, not happening." It was Dean. "But, we are done with our stuff, so we're gonna pick up some coffee and we'll be at the library to help you scan through those." There was a pause, and I heard Sam say something in the background, but couldn't make it out. "Hey, are you for sure, you didn't see anything suspicous in the newspapers you've already scanned through." I rolled my eyes, so that's what Sam had been saying.

"Yes Dean, I'm positive, not a single unusual death, unless you count getting kicked in the head by a donkey." I said, looking at the newspaper that was currently in front of me. That was the big headline, local farmer gets put into a coma from fatal donkey kick. "Because that's the most unusual thing I've come across so far, and while it ain't normal I wouldn't dub it as supernatural." I deadpanned.

"No, definitely not supernatural, anyways, just keep scanning through them, if you aren't sure about any of the articles set them aside, Sammy can look at them." Dean instructed me. "You really haven't ever looked for this kind of thing before, so we don't want you missing anything." He told me. "Alright, I gotta go." He hung up. I laid my phone back down on the table and sighed heavily. Back to looking at the articles, I used the promise of oncoming coffee to keep my mind focused, and not get distracted.

 **I know, I know, this is like fifty words too short, but it was the best place to end this chapter without going over my average word count. Anyways, once again, slow moving, but like I said I want to establish the characters and then set up the plot, not try to juggle both. I'm only a freshman in college my writing skills aren't ready to handle as complex plots as the writers of the show have! Anyways, if you liked please R &R, like it seriously keeps me motivated. Even if you're reading this after it's completed, I still love to hear feedback, even if it is cruel, heart wrenching, and dream crushing. So if you hate this so far, let me know that too!**


	7. Chapter 7

It wasn't long after the phonecall, that I ran into something a little odd. Once again it had happened at the usually peaceful college. After noticing the title of, "Student's Throat Gets Scorched by Burger." I had to redad the whole segment. I would say it definitely fell under odd. The nineteen year old student was in the cafeteria and had gotten a burger, the main course for that days meal, and proceeded to eat it. That's when the weird part hit, according to witnesses, after he had eaten half of the burger, he began to scream and grab at his throat and stomach. Apparently both areas were burning hot on the outside to touch, and the cause of death was severe, internal burns.

Just as I was reaching for my phone, the two brother, clad in suites, walked through the library door. "I'm pretty sure I definitely found something." I said and waved the said paper. "Check this out, college kid gets burned so badly by a half eaten burger that it kills him." I said leaning back in my chair as the Winchesters sat on either side of me. "So maybe, the witchiness is like a family thing?" I asked as Sam read over the article for himself. "I mean the death was in seventy something, and up until then I didn't see anything else weird." I explained.

Dean began flipping through the papers in my discarded pile, confirming what I'd said. "Yeah, it could be a practice passed down, or they could be getting their power from the same entity that hangs around here." He offered. Sam frowned, laying the paper down, he didn't seem too impressed with his brother's theory. "Or not, would you both stop giving me that look, you wouldn't even know if a supernatural douech would be hanging around the same town for centuries or not." I rolled my eyes at his defensive attitude.

"It just seems odd that with it being the bible belt, and not a lot of witches that it would hang out in the same place that long." I explained. "But you're right, I don't really know anything about them, thanks to you two, so I could be seriously wrong." I jabbed back, and began to box up the newspapers, Sam took a picture of the article in question. "So that's enough for us to figure out some kind of connection then?" I asked.

Sam was furiously typing something in his phone. "Uh yeah, we got the kid's name, if we can figure out who was in that room whenever it went down we might be able to figure something out." He said and stood up. Me and Dean followed the younger of the two out the door and into the open air. Sure enough sitting in the Impala were three coffee cups. I grabbed one from Dean and took a large drink from it. "Have they renovated that room or anythign since?" He asked me.

I bit my lip thinking, sure they had repainted it, and always scrub it clean every summer, but I thought it was pretty true to it's original design. "I don't think it's ever been remodeled." I replied. "Why?"

Dean got in the drivers seat. "There's a very slim chance that the hex bag may still be in there, Sam you go see if you can find which family member has the hex bag from the latest vic. Lyra, you go talk to... I don't know who, but talk to someone see if the hex bag was ever found. You do know what one looks like right?" He asked me. I nodded in reply and moved to my own vehicle. "Oh wait, do you know how to use a gun?" Dean asked me, getting back out of his baby.

"Of course do, been shooting ever since I was little." I replied, Dean handed me a completely black nine millimeter. "Sweet." I said, and checked the clip, silver bullets. "This will kill a witch?" I asked, checking the safety before tucking it in my leather jacket.

"Regular bullets will too, silver bullets is all we carry." The older brother replied and got back in the drivers side. "If you find it just send us a text and we can meet later tonight at the hotel. Remember only be at the college when necessary, stay outside as much as possible, hex bags don't work real well in wide open spaces, even in the court yard."

I nodded my head before getting in my own car and turning the ignition. Soon I was heading back to Crowder College, I'd try the bookstore first, the lost and found never get rid of anything, if it wasn't there, I'd check the security offices. The bookstore was a bust which meant I had to go talk to head of security, which just so happened to have an office in Elsie Plaster, the building home to the latest two attacks. I patted my jacket where the gun was concealed and took a deep breath. Walking into the building I felt myself tense.

As I was nearing the office doors I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. "Hello." I said pausing in the hallway.

"Hey, don't worry about the hex bag, it was in the wall at the cafeteria, so I've got it." Dean said on the other line. I made a sharp turn and started walking in the direction of the food court, where I assumed Dean would be. "Where are you at?" He asked.

"I'm headed your way, what now?" I asked. Once the sentence had left my mouth I neared the Winchester and hung up the phone. "Food again I hope?" I asked and batted my eyelashes at him.

"Fine, I'll let Sam know what we're doing. Tonight we'll compare all three hex bags and see how they compare to eachother." He said and lead me out of the college. "I get to drive though, I'll bring you back to the car whenever we're done." He said, and unlocked his black vehicle. I got in the passenger side and stretched.

"I really could get used to this." I said and gave Dean a sly smile.

"Don't get used to it." Was his surly response before tearing out of the parking lot.

 **So there's another chapter, once again I love feedback of literally any kind. I'm thinking that this will, as usual, be a multi part story, and each part will be one or two hunts. It just depends on how long I feel like making them, and I'm writing this as I post, so any requests are welcome. I'm not promising I'll use them all, but I definitely want to hear suggestions if you have any!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Alright, on to the next chapter! So this is where I'm starting to get into unplanned territory like I don't have an outline for these next chapters. Having said that bare with me, and please R &R, and leave any suggestions for the story!**

I sat down, just me and Dean, in a diner, a different one this time. If I were to try and convince you all that it wasn't awkward I'd be lying. We were both dead silent, neither one of us having anything to really say. "So uh..." Dean was struggling to make conversation, I'd tried a few times now, but since he didn't want to tell me much the attempts trickled then died. "You've been pretty calm about all this supernatural shit." He said, taking a hasty bite of fries.

Setting down my burger. "I mean I'm still having a hard time believing it's all real if I'm honest." I replied. "Sure I go along with it, help you all out, but deep down, I know it's not real. What I haven't figured out is who you all are." Dean chuckled at that and shook his head. "Look, I know it's an awful thing to do, hang around but say that you all are crazy, it's just witches? It's hard for me to wrap my head around."

Dean settled down. "Sure, I guess I can understand that, just do us a favor and still be cautious, it doesn't matter if you believe or not." He paused a moment, glancing at the door as someone walked in the building. "They'll kill you if they find out that you're involved."

A little bit later Sam came and joined us for dinner. For the most part, it was a normal meal, we didn't talk too much about the case, apparently, the guys just had to do some more recon, try to find some more suspects, put together loose ends. So the dinner was filled with bickering, joking, and Dean trying desperately to find a classic rock song that I didn't know. (He never did by the way.) I was the one who got up first to leave, to the Winchesters' dismay I was going back to classes the next day, my parents were getting suspicious, and they'd kill me if they found out.

"Just stay safe, carry some kind of weapon, even if it ain't a gun." Dean told me as I got in my crappy neon outside of Crowder. "I know they're not allowed on the property, but keep it concealed and no one will know." I sighed, eyeing the cop car that was making its usual rounds, the idea of getting caught on campus with any kind of weapon, even just a knife, made me want to throw up. I'd probably end up in jail, plus, I didn't believe in all of this stuff anyways, right?

"I promise I'll take something with me tomorrow morning." I lied. "I'll see you later, just text me if you need any more help, and just let me know whenever the hunt is done." I said, starting up my vehicle. Dean took a step back, shut my door, and went back to his Impala. I felt bad, not listening to him, he was just trying to make sure I was safe.

The next morning I grabbed my backpack and keys and was getting ready to head out the door whenever I eyed my butterfly knife lying down on the coffee table in my living room. I debated grabbing it and just shoving it in my pocket, it'd be easy to conceal, but thought better of it. Even if something did happen I couldn't just stab someone out in the open during class or in a hallway. So I headed out the door leaving the knife behind me.

My first class, English Comp, went as usual and I was starting to think that I had been hoping for something exciting to happen to me, and that's why I went along with something as insane as supernatural entities. Crossing the courtyard, heading towards my art class in Elsie Plaster, I tried not to think about Dean's warnings. Walking into the art studio for my painting class I noticed that there was one more person who had beat me to class for once. "Aubrey, you're earlier than usual?" I said walking over to her workstation. My favorite things about art classes were how easy it was to build friendships with the other students.

"Oh, just working on something I'm doing on my own." I looked down at what she held in her hand and resisted the urge to run. She was holding a little cloth that she was currently painting a sigil on. I didn't recognize the design, but I did know that it looked suspiciously like a hex bag. "So where have you been?" She asked.  
"You weren't at our last class, and you don't normally miss."

I shook off my fear, there's no way that attitude filled, extremely talented and outgoing Aubrey could be a witch. Not to mention if drawing symbols automatically made you a baddy than I would be one too, I doodled that shit everywhere. "Oh, I met this really cute guy and I've been hanging out with him." I blushed at the wink she gave me. "It's not like that Dean's just passing through town." Aubrey shifted at Dean's name.

"You shouldn't hang out with him." She said idly. I froze, she knew Dean, and that did not bode well. "Seriously Lyra, just forget about him, like you said he's just passing through and I hear that he's delusional too."

I backed away from her and grabbed my bag. "Would you tell the instructor I don't feel well." I said. Aubrey nodded and gave me a smile as if nothing was wrong. But something was seriously, seriously wrong. I scrambled down the hallway and burst out of the building, not pausing even once, headed straight for my car. As I ran it started to make sense, Aubrey would have a grudge against everyone that had been killed. They'd all given us art students a hard time, the custodian not getting the dead animal out of our wall for a week, the instructor having failed her in one of the art classes, and the office worker from even longer back had wanted to cut our funding.

As I went to open my car door I froze. It hit me as to why Aubrey wasn't surprised whenever I said I knew Dean, she'd already known. Instead of opening the car door, I ditched my backpack and headed down the sidewalk, dialing Dean's phone number. This was seriously not good.


	9. Chapter 9

"Dean, I need help," I said, I was in hysterics. What? You don't expect someone whose life had just got threatened, and who had just found out that witches were undeniably real. This had been fun whenever I was just convincing myself that it was real, but no there was no convincing. "She knows, I know who the witch is, but she knows that I know!" I was huddled down in a small ditch next to the empty road that went vertical to the college. It was a terrible hiding spot, but I didn't know what else to do.

"Alright, where are you, we'll come get you," Dean said immediately, he was talking quickly, but still steady. He knew the situation wasn't good, but he also wasn't getting upset. THere wasn't an ounce of panic in the older Winchester's tone of voice. Of course not, this was Dean we were talking about.

"I'm in the ditch by the road right outside of the school," I told him, I knew he was going to pissed that I came to classes. I should've listened to him, but then again, how would've I found out that Aubrey already knew about me helping him and his brother. Dammit, why did they have to show up lost in the parking lot, sure they were attractive, but they weren't my life? "I ditched my backpack, and didn't get in my car," I explained.

"Well, at least you did one thing right." Dean snapped back. "Sit tight, and if she finds you don't try to fight her, trust me, you won't win." He told me. "I'm gonna leave Sam there to try to find the witch, you and I are going to head to your house." I practically whimpered in response. After all these days of playing it cool, and pretending I could handle this, I realized I could not. I seriously could not handle this.

"Why are we going to my house?" I asked seriously confused. "What if she's found out where I live won't that be bad if I go there, what if she already has hex bags planted at home." I was panicky spewing every thought that came to my mind. Then it hit me if she knew that I was helping the Winchesters, if she knew where I lived, then she probably knew about family. "My parents!" I shouted suddenly, that's why I and Dean would be going home to make sure they would be doing okay. "Go there first."

"There's no need, Lyra," Dean said, I could tell by now that he and Sam were in a vehicle driving. "We're gonna go right by you on the way to your house, you said you lived in a town south of here." He said. "You and I can go together, we don't even know where your house is, there'd be no point in going without you." I just grunted in reply. I was focusing on breathing, focusing on not having a complete breakdown.

The short ten minutes that it took the guys to find me, Dean stayed on the phone the whole time, forcing me to talk. He was trying to keep me from panicking, and I needed it too. This is what the Winchester's had warned me about all those days ago. What I didn't anticipate, was the threat to my family, that's had me panicking the worst. Sure, I didn't get along with my parents, but I loved them. The last thing I wanted was to get them killed and was looking more and more like that had happened.

"Alright, get in," Dean said, climbing out of the driver's side and helping me stand up. "Hey, it's okay, we're gonna kill her, okay, she won't be able to hurt anyone." He promised me. I nodded my head, it was a weird way of consoling someone, promising a person's death, but I appreciated the effort. "Are you sure you're going to be alright, Sammy?" Dean asked, putting me in the passenger seat, where his brother had previously been.

"I'm sure, you two go." He said, and starting walking back up the road. Dean got in next to me, and put the vehicle into drive, if I thought his driving was reckless before, I was very wrong. He was driving the Impala like it was his life that was on the line. Apparently, he and Sam were speaking the truth about wanting to help people. I never said a word aside from telling him where to turn, it was a quiet ride, the Winchester didn't even have the radio on which was very unusual.

Soon we pulled up in my driveway, and both of ran out of the car, up towards the door. "Let me go in first," Dean said, cocking his pistol and opening the door slowly. There was no one in the living room, which sort of concerned me, neither of my parents were working that day so I had expected them to be right there. "Where's their bedroom?" Dean whispered to me.

I silently pointed to the door across the room to the left. Following he went to that closed door, a gun opened it in the same way that he had opened the front door. One thing I would learn about Dean was that he was easy to read. Unfortunately, the first time I experienced was whenever he stiffened, his broad shoulders blocking my view of whatever had caused that reaction. I almost didn't want to see, I almost wanted to turn around, go back to Crowder, and help Sam hunt. I wanted to do this because deep down I knew what Dean was blocking from my view, but I didn't know how to cope with that.

 **So for those of you who are following this story I have a question for you. I'm starting to wrap up the first little step in the outline I have in store for Lyra. I can either end this story in a few chapters and start a new one for the next series of major events, or I can just make this one kind of lengthy and keep on chugging. If you have an opinion, leave it in a review, if not you should still review, just saying.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Alright, here is another chapter! I know that I've been uploading very sparingly lately, but I promise it will get better. I only have a few more weeks left in the semester and no big plans for the beginning of summer. Which we all know means more updates! Anywho, please drop a review, they're my sole source of food.**

"Go back out to the car," Dean said. I was staring blankly at his back, everything was muffled, all of my senses. His voice felt so far away, everything felt far except one thing, my parents were dead. "Lyra," Dean insisted.

"L-let me see," I whispered I had to see for myself I had to see what that witch did to my family. "Please."

Dean turned swiftly towards me, all I could only see two figures laying on the ground for a split moment. Then Dean's chest was blocking my view. "Lyra, please, you don't need to see this, just go back to the car." He told me. That's when I saw something that I would be seeing a lot more often from both Winchesters. Grief and guilt. Those two things were plastered over Dean's face. "I'll come with you, once Sam finds the witch we can give them a hunter's funeral."

He started walking towards me, probably in an attempt to force me back out of the house. However, he also was clear of the doorway. I darted around him and ran into the room. What I saw is something that is still cemented in my brain forever. It's one of the many images that I have seen that haunts my nightmares. My mom was the first one I saw, and it was horrific. She looked as if she had been burned alive, which explained the horrible smell. The only reason why I could tell my mom from my dad was their heights. There was barely any skin left, and no hair at all.

In the few moments that I had to look on at the scene before Dean literally picked me up an took me away. First I noticed that there was very little left of their eyes. Both sets had been reduced to a gel-like substance that was dripping out of the sockets. The second was the scratches on my father's skin. It was as if he had been trying to claw the fire off of him. The third was that both of them, even though they weren't exactly beautiful before, had been reduced to almost nothing. They deserved so much more. I took a step towards the two bodies whenever I was all of sudden being lifted up.

"You shouldn't have seen that." I heard Dean whisper. He had me slung over his shoulder and was practically running out of the building. I fought back the tears that threatened to escape my eyes. This wasn't a time to cry, I would not cry. I would not think about what could have been. I would not think about how it was my fault they were dead. I would not think about if they blamed me. All I would think about was killing that bitch.

"We need to go help Sam," I said once Dean set me down. I stood up straight and stiffened my shoulders. "The witch needs to burn." I snarled. "We need to go now, I want to be the one to feel the snap of her neck under my hands. Or better yet, watch her struggle as she burns alive just as she forced my parents." Dean looked like he desperately wanted to protest, but didn't say anything. He only opened the passenger door for me and handed me a pistol on my way in the vehicle.

Dean was going eighty the whole way back to the college. Neither one of us said a word, there was really nothing to say, at least not yet. As we drove I focused on the gun. Unloading it, reloading it, checking the safety, and getting a feel for the weight. Shooting a gun was nothing new to me, but I wanted to be at least somewhat familiar with the weapon, I didn't want to miss.

Just a few minutes later we screeched to a stop directly in front of the building. Both me and Dean were out within seconds, running across campus, both of our weapons concealed. We had no idea where the witch and Sam were, but we at least knew where to start, so we headed to the art building, where the witch was last seen. We burst into the drawing classroom and the instructor stopped whatever he had just been saying and stared at us. "Sorry, Mr. Job." I squeaked out. Dean went to shut the door, but I stopped him with my hand. "Have you seen Aubrey anywhere?"

Job just shook his head silently, he seemed to be slightly shocked. I just nodded my head and ducked back out. "Has Sam texted you or anything?" I asked Dean as we ran out of the opposite side of the building. I wasn't sure where we were headed, and I don't think that Dean knew either, but we couldn't just sit still. "Here," I said snatching Dean's phone out of his hand, my impatience getting the best of me. I found his number and hit the green button. Dean huffed but didn't say anything.

"Where are you guys, I'm a little busy." I heard Sam snap on the other line. I breathed a sigh of relief, but then jumped whenever I heard something thunk. So this was why Dean hadn't outright called Sam himself. "We're over in the barn." He said before hanging up. I changed direction suddenly, throwing Dean his phone.

"They're in the AG barn!" I shouted towards him and took my pistol back out of my waistband. Just a few more feet until we reached the slightly ajar barn doors. Sam was in there, with the witch. All I could think of was how badly I wanted to set the witch on fire, how I wanted to make her die just as she killed my family. I wouldn't let her get away with the clean death, I'd rather shoot Sam and Dean than let them shoot her.


	11. Chapter 11

**Whooh guys, finals are officially over for me, as today actually. So you know how Rooster Teeth has their "Summer of Animation", well this is my Summer of Fanfiction! Yup, so hopefully I will stay up to date on current ones, and maybe start a few and wrap a few. Anyways I know you all aren't here for my rambling, so on with the show!**

During the tussle between the two boys and the witch, I located a gas lantern. Dean had his gun raised and was getting ready to squeeze the trigger. I panicked, I had already told him I wanted her to burn! I pushed his arm out of the way, making him fire at the wall behind the witch, and grabbed a nearby lantern. While Aubrey was busy dealing with Sam, I slammed the lantern into the side of her head, dousing her with the liquid. "That was dumb." She hissed and turned towards me. Suddenly I felt myself slam hard into a wooden beam. I coughed and fell to the ground trying to catch my breath.

As if he understood what I was trying to do, Dean lit his lighter and threw it at the witch. She went up in flames immediately. Her screams were piercing and inhuman, while she still burned the area around us was rapidly catching fire. "She's going to burn the whole place down!" Sam shouted at us. He just now standing up and was by far the worst beaten out of the three.

"Well, then why are we still hanging around?" Dean asked turning towards the door and covering his face with his sleeve. I followed his lead and mimicked what he was doing. We would easily make it to the door in time, but that didn't mean I wanted to be coughing for an hour after due to smoke. Once we made it back out into fresh air, I took a couple steps back, looking up at the burning barn. "Not exactly subtle, but I suppose it works." He said. Sirens started to sound off in the distance and a crowd was gathering.

"We need to leave," I said, walking back to the Impala. Dean never brought up how I ruined his shot, and I never questioned it. If he wasn't mad at me about it, I wouldn't try to poke a sleeping bear. So the matter was dropped. Instead, we turned on some Creedence Clearwater and drove back to my house. Just as he had promised Dean was going to give my parents a hunter's burial.

Thankfully, I didn't have to participate in getting ready for it. Instead, I sat on the hood of the Impala and watched as Sam gathered lumber and Dean brought out the two bodies. "So what now?" I asked Sam, speaking for the first time since we left the college. I can't go back to Crowder, I can't stay here, and now that I know.-"

"Forget." Both me and Sam looked up sharply. Dean had just walked out with one of the bodies wrapped in a white sheet. "I'm serious forget this ever happened, move away and start completely over, you'll be better off." I stopped and thought about for that a minute, as they arranged the pile of wood. How could I just forget, I lost my family, and how many more people were out there losing loved ones and not even knowing why? Of course, it would be safer and easier just to forget and move on, but I really didn't want to.

"I can't," I stated firmly, summing up my thoughts. "There are too many people out there who will experience the same thing I did, I can't let innocent people die." I hopped onto the ground and reached over grabbing the lighter from Dean. I was crying, and for once I just let it happened. After everything I had been through I deserved to cry. I dropped the ignited lighter onto the wood pile and let the heat from the flames wash over me. "Let me come with you, just for a while, teach me how to kill these things."

"You don't have to Kyra, you aren't responsible for anyone's lives," Sam said laying a hand on my shoulder. "We're really not the ones you want to be around anyways, people who linger with us tend to get hurt."

"Do you feel responsible for people's lives?" I asked him, not looking away from the fire. Dean opened his mouth to reply, but I started up again before he could get a word out. "I don't have anything more to lose anyway, better I die than someone who still has something to live for." Dean shook his head.

"If you're sure we have a place where you can read up on this stuff that safe," Sam said. Dean grabbed him and they walked out of earshot. I knew they were arguing about me coming. However, I knew that Sam would win, because the Winchester's knew even if they didn't take me I'd find a way to hunt. Blocking out those thoughts, I said goodbye to my parents, praying that the heaven the believed in really did exist. THey deserved heaven, more than anyone else on the planet, they deserved heaven.

After a few minutes Dean and Sam walked back over to me. "If you want to follow us, there's a bunker that we have access too, it has all kinds of research info on the supernatural. You can stay there as long as you need." Dean said, and handed me a key, with a strange symbol carved into it. "That's the key, it's your's if you want to come, you certainly aren't the first or only person that will stay with us."

Without even thinking I wrapped my arms around the older Winchester for a moment. "Thank you, for everything." I whispered in his ear before pulling back. I grabbed a key from my bag and walked past my Neon. My mom had a large black Jeep, and I'd be taking that instead. Sam was wrong, while I wasn't forgetting what had happened, I was going to move on.


	12. Chapter 12

**Ask and ye shall receive! Seriously though, thank you to godwar169** **for leaving a review, and you are credited for me getting an update out just a day apart! I think I'm going to make this a fairly long fanfiction, and just combine the like three or four phases I have in mind. Hopefully, this will be easier for you all. Oh, and as a fun fact the diner in this chapter is named, and based off a real restaurant in my town.**

While I was used to speeding, what Dean was doing needed a completely different word to describe. What should have taken us nearly eight hours took five, and I was having a seriously hard time keeping up with him. Around halfway to the bunker we stopped in a town with a population of 84 to get fuel for the cars and ourselves. We stopped at a diner first. I pulled up and parked next to the Impala, being careful to leave plenty of room between the two vehicles. "You got money?" Dean asked me as we walked into the Hillbilly Restaurant.

"Yeah, I've got some," I said walking in and finding us a booth by a window. The menus were in a basket sitting on the table, so no waitress walked up immediately. "I have a question," I said taking a deep breath, mentally preparing the backlash that would certainly come from this. "I'm really, bored, and lonely, could..." I paused for a moment to gather up all of my courage. "Could you or Sam please ride with me for a while?" I blurted out as fast as possible.

Dean busted up laughing and I glared him. "Be nice, she's never driven longer than two hours at one time, remember," Sam said, glaring at his older brother. "Yeah, sure, I'll ride with you for a while, do you want me to take a turn driving?" He asked. I immediately frowned, yes I wanted someone to help me keep from falling asleep, but I didn't need anyone to drive for me.

"I think I'm capable of driving myself, thanks," I said. Neither Winchester got a chance to reply before the waitress came over to take our orders. "I'll have the chicken sandwich crispy, with some cheesy bacon fries," I ordered. "And a Dr. Pepper to drink, no a coffee, black." Once she finished writing down my order, Sam and Dean ordered. "Oh, and I'm on a separate ticket if that's not a problem," I said, almost forgetting.

"No, you aren't," Dean replied, I opened my mouth to argue, but the look that the older Winchester was giving me told me otherwise. "All on the same check will be just fine." He told her giving her a smile. As the young woman walked away I watch his eyes travel down the length of her body and back up. I rolled my eyes and tried to ignore that nagging feeling in the back of my brain. "Well, I have seriously got to empty the tank, so I will be right back."

Just as Dean said that my serious need to pee hit me. "Yeah, I've really got to use the restroom too," I said sliding out of the booth and walking towards the bathroom sign next to Dean. "Hey Dean, does it get any better?" I asked once we were out of earshot from Sam. "I mean this guilty feeling like it's your fault that they died," I said softly, elaborating.

"No, I wish I could tell you differently, but it just sits there and piles up and weighs you down." Suddenly he was serious. "All you can do is keep on living, and try to keep something like that from happening again." He turned away from me. "That's why you want to hunt isn't?" He walked into the men's restroom.

"Yeah, it is," I whispered to myself before going to the girl's restroom. While that wasn't particularly what I wanted to hear, I was thankful he gave me the truth. However, I didn't know how to cope with the grief, the guilt, and the pain. Maybe drowning myself in this new world I had thrust myself into would help. Time would only tell. My other question was how Sam and Dean had gotten into hunting, and why Dean sounded like he knew exactly what guilt I was talking about. Both of them were big balls of angsty mystery.

Dean beat me back to the booth and was laughing and talking to Sam about something as if our conversation had never even happened. I was curious to know how he could do that, flip it like a switch that easily. "I'm starving, I really hope they hurry," I said sitting down across from the two. "Not to mention I'm anxious to see this bunker that you two keep telling me about."

"Yeah, about that we should probably let you know a few things." Sam started. "As we mentioned before you aren't the only person who's staying with us. Cas is there too." I raised an eyebrow. They'd never mentioned this Cas guy before this. "He's a fallen angel and a close friend of ours, I'm sure that you two will get along. Just as a warning though, he doesn't completely understand human interaction, it's all new to him, so try to be patient."

"Wait, a fallen _angel_?" I asked, more like shouted. "So, angels are real? What else is real?" I asked. While it was shocking my head wasn't spinning in circles like when I learned about witches, already the brothers had warned me that stuff like was real.

"While not everything from lore is real, it's probably best to just assume it is, the stories have to come from somewhere," Dean said, our conversation once again came to a stall whenever the waitress came with our food. The conversation forgotten, we dug into our food, my thoughts drifting about this angel Cas.


	13. Chapter 13

**Another review! Even if I only have one reader, that's enough for me to be encouraged to keep writing, so here is a new chapter.** **I'm not sure if you've seen it yet, but I replied to your review over PM, godwar169, as not to give out a spoiler for everyone else.**

It didn't take us long to eat, all of us were ready to just get home, well they were ready to go home. I was ready to check out the bunker, and hopefully make it my home. I was also very curious about this Castiel. Once the waitress took the money we all stood up to leave. "Hey Sam, why don't you take the Impala and I'll ride with Lyra." Dean said more than asked tossing his keys at his baby brother.

"Are you serious?" Sam asked catching them haphazardly. "You never let anyone other than you drive that car." I was too busy freaking out because I would locked in a car with Dean freaking Winchester for like four hours. While I wasn't angry I was nervous, especially because he hadn't given me time to mentally prepare for the change.

"Ready Lyra?" Dean asked me from the doorway of the diner. I nodded my head and followed after him, grounding myself back down to reality. "Don't hurt her in any way, you hear me." Dean commanded pointing a stern finger and Sam as they both got into the respective vehicles. Sam rolled his eyes at his older brother.

"Dean, I drove her for months while you were in the pit, I think I'll be fine." He said and slammed the car door, most likely on purpose. Dean flinched, but got in the passenger side of my jeep non-the-less.

We drove for a few miles, with nothing but the radio playing, thankfully Dean let me pick the music. I wasn't sure if it was becuase he liked classic rock anyways, or if had something to do with the fact that it was my vehicle. Finally, I was the first one to talk. "What did Sam mean by in the pit?" I asked, not taking my eyes off the road. I didn't want to see his reaction to the question. Whatever the 'pit' was, it didn't sound like a good thing. Actually the best answer, which was crazy, that I could come up with was-

"Hell, he meant hell." Yup, that was it. "Me and my brother, we've been through a lot, I try not to let it get to me too much. All that matters is the here and now." His voice got more determined towards the end of the sentence, and I couldn't help but feel that statement was something he told himself often. Not just a verbal explanation for me.

"So, if you don't mind me asking, how did you get out, isn't hell kind of permanent?" I asked tentatively. It didn't take a rocket scientist to realize that someone's trip from hell was traumatizing. The last thing I wanted to do was set Dean off in any kind of way.

"Cas, he pulled me out." That was the only explanation I got, before he turned the conversation towards me. "How are you holding up?" He asked, I finally glanced over at him, surprised to see real concern in his eyes. The depth of that man's sincerity and care for other people would never cease to amaze me. Who in the world would have that much faith, and love humanity as much as he did. Especially with everything he'd gone through for zero recognition, and what I would learn later to even be scrutiny.

"I'm holding up, I guess." My reply was just as vague and annoying as his was I'm sure. "Just going to focus on this new work, keep myself distracted, block it out." Why I was admitting the fact that I was refusing to cope, I had no idea. Dean was just... easy to talk to.

"Sam tells me that's not healthy, so you better be prepared to get lectured, he's smart he'll figure out what you're doing real fast." My eyes widened, I was surprised and relieved, no lecture. "Really though, if you ever need someone to talk to don't hesitate to come one of us, or even Cas. Actually don't go to Cas, he can make things worse on accident sometimes." I smiled a little. "Anyways, just know, the bunker is your home too now." It was surprising to me that he was so willing to take a virtual stranger into his top secret facility, but then again, I was following a virtual stranger there.

Instead of continuing the conversation I just reached over and turned up the radio dial. "Just Ask The Lonely" was playing. As if the DJ had heard our conversation and knew exactly what song to play. We pulled up to the bunker at around ten o'clock and I was floored. The building was massive with hardly any windows, and no door. "So, how do you get in?" I asked Dean grabbing my luggage out of my vehicle, while the boys unloaded the Impala.

"The door is just around the corner." He said. I raised an eyebrow, we were at that bottom of the hill that the bunker sat on, how the hell could- Oh, it was an underground tunnel, that's how. "Find it?" Dean said following behind me.

"Kind of hard to miss a giant metal, military grade, safe house hatch." I said. Dean unlocked it and guided me through the tunnel that spit out in what seemed to be the main area of the bunker. We were on a sort of catwalk that looked over a large table, with random glowy things all over it, a small kitchen area to the left of it, and a library to the right. "This is appropriately named." I said not hiding my shock. "Where do you want me to put this stuff?"

"We'll have Cas show you your room so we can crash." Sam told me, Dean was already down the stairs. Just then an average height man, with unruly black hair, and brilliant blue eyes, walked into the room. "Cas, this is Lyra, Lyra Cas." Dean introduced. I finally followed the boys down the steps and held out my hand. Cas reached out and shook it, but something was off about it, he was rigid.

"Why are you here?" He asked bluntly. His voice was deep and gravelly and hella intimidating.

"My- my parents got killed by a witch and I want to keep that from happening to someone." I explained, honestly. You don't lie or cover up your intentions around an effing angel, even if they only have a very small amount of power.

"So you're joining Team Free Will?" He asked me. I shook my head, completely confused. "Never mind, I'll show you your room. What door number do you want?" He asked me.

"If there's a thirteen?"

"There is."

"That's my lucky number."

"Odd."

"I know."

And so Cas opened the door to my new home.

 **Okay so yes, the time line is totally fucked in this. I apologize, but just to clarify what's going on since it doesn't fall during a cannon time period. Dean and Sam have been through everything in the show up to season twelve, but that's not really important. Cas is in one of his many partial powers stage, Jack is not a thing. Mary being back is not a thing (really hate that the writers did that at all.) Everyone who is dead at the end of season 12 is dead except Crowley. Not sure if he will make an appearance, but I want to keep my options open. Chuck is God, and Lucifer is still in the cage. Oh and just for the heck of it, Gabriel is still alive too. (I plan on doing something very non-cannon with him and can't freakin' wait!)  
**


	14. Chapter 14

**So as for five days next week I will be staying at a resort because I am in a wedding that is not in my town. Usually this wouldn't hinder my writing at all, but just yesterday morning my laptop screen broke, so I have no way of writing while not at home. However between now and then I will get as much writing as I can. I realize that we only really see the basement and main floor of the bunker, but based off of other things in the show you can tell there's another floor too. Usually room numbers are based off of what floor they are on, 22 would suggest second room on the second floor. Yes, this is far from accurate, but it's the best I got.**

It didn't take me long to unpack my bags and make myself at home in the new room. I had moved around a lot as a kid, which helped me adjust to new situations easily. It turned out that I was kind of secluded in the bunker. Both of the brothers were up on the second floor, and if Castiel even had a room it wasn't near mine. At first I saw this as a good thing, peace and quiet, and time alone. However the whole size and cold feeling to the structure was starting to get to me.

"Have any questions so far?" Sam asked me, walking into the library area where I was reading one of the multitude of books. "I know some of that stuff can be wildly confusing, and I'd love to help if I can." He said, sitting next to me. He opened himself a bottle of beer, and slid one across the wooden table towards me. I looked at my phone, it was three A.M. which was weird to me.

"It's a little late for you to be so wide awake." Was my reply, before taking a swig of the drink. I wasn't sure if it mattered or not, but reminding him I was still just a few years younger than him didn't sound like a good idea.

"Isn't it a little late for you to still be up researching this stuff?" He asked, shooting my own point back at me. "None of us really get a whole lot of sleep around here, if you haven't noticed yet." Dean was right. It seemed like the angel never slept, and Dean and Sam always seemed restless, without a pattern. "Cas doesn't need sleep, and me and Sammy just don't." He said, confirming what I had already figured out. He never gave me enough credit in the intuition department.

"So far I don't have a whole lot of questions, everything is pretty self explanatory. Werewolves are werewolves, shapeshifters are shapeshifters, wendigos are wendigos." I replied. "I think I'm catching on pretty fast too." I said, looking back down at the book. It wasn't any knew confusing information so I could split my focus between it and my conversation with the older Winchester.

"Really? It's been what, three days, and you think that you already have a good grasp on this?" He asked me playfully, raising an eyebrow. I slammed the book shut, slid it out of the way, and looked Dean in the eyes. Challenge accepted. "How do you kill a werewolf?"

"Easy, silver bullet."

"Shapeshifter?"

"Same thing, do you think I'm dense?"

"Alright then, you mentioned a wendigo too, what about them?"

"Fire."

"Ghost?"

"Salt and burn."

"Vampire?"

"Cut the head off."

"Djinn?"

"A what?" I asked, he had finally stumped me. I hadn't even come across that in my reading up to that point. It pissed me off too, I had been doing well. Impressing him even, by the look on his face. "You could've asked me about demons, angels, even a damn tulpa, but nope, you ask about a damn drink!"

Dean chuckled at that, cracking a grin that I hadn't seen in a while. It seemed the more comfortable the group, Team Free Will as they called themselves, got with me, the more that they smiled less. It was like cleaning the makeup off of a clown, they weren't really smiling. "It's a type of genie, you kill it with a silver knife dipped in lambs blood. They're nasty suckers that feed on your emotions, and dreams, you'll be stuck in a fantasy with no will or way out."

I nodded my head hanging on to every word he was saying. No way I would admit it, but I wanted to impress him. Of course I did, he was handsome and rugged, and understood me. I sought his approval, I wanted to prove to him that I was useful, and taking this the whole situation seriously. Not that he had ever doubted that fact up to the point, but I couldn't let him even for a minute think otherwise. Yes, I was somewhat of a ditz, but I knew that hunting was dangerous, and knew not to take it lightly.

"Ease up on her Dean, when was the last time we ran into a Djinn?" Sam asked walking into the room. "I brought you some books on ghouls like you had asked about." The younger brother said, laying the books down on the table.

"Looks like you all are awake, good." Cas said walking in right behind Sam. "I think I might have found a case for us, if you two are ready?" He directed to the brothers.

I cleared my throat and everyone turned to look at me. "What? I've been studying studiously, I think that I should be able go!" I stated. "Look, I know I said I was coming to do research here, but I can't sit by and let you all do the work. I can help."

All three of the guys exchanged looks, and finally Dean sighed. "Fine, but if things start to go south, Cas is gonna angel jump your ass right back here, where you will stay." He said seriously. I was torn in two different directions by that statement. Part of me was jumping up and down like a little girl at the prospect of Dean caring that much about my well being. The other was pissed that he couldn't trust me and was hardly going to give me a chance to prove my capabilities.


	15. Chapter 15

**First off a quick shout out to Superwholock05 for the frigging sweet ass review! As for Godwar169 I resent the answer to your question. Thank you to both of you for reviewing, it really motivates me to keep writing. Now for a very important announcement, I am going to Germany for like ten days this Friday, and because I have no laptop there will probably no update. Which sucks ass, however, I will pick it right back up whenever I am back in the U.S.**

After a long debate with Dean, I ended up stuck in the back of the Impala next to Castiel, trying to ignore the awkward distance between us. I had wanted to drive my Jeep, but Dean said Sam would have to drive it back if Cas had to jump me out of the hunt quickly, and there was no way in hell he was driving The Beast. After Castiel ran the brothers and me through the different murders and the basics of the case we didn't have that much to talk about. "So, any ideas as to what it might be?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"No, just a few murders with locked doors, no sign of a break-in, and no clear connection," Sam answered. "Once we settle into town we will go check out the crime scenes and see if we can find any history or pattern." I nodded my head, I was hoping for some kind of answer to keep the conversation going. Of course, I was disappointed, Sammy never really made small talk. Even Dean was better at that than him.

"So, do you know how to use a gun?" The angel asked me suddenly, I jerked my head over and raised an eyebrow. "I mean, it's a basic skill for your own safety during hunting."

I chuckled. "Haven't shot anyone yet, but yeah I can use one. However, when it comes to knives or stakes I'm no good." While my pride wanted to gloat about how good I was with a pistol, I knew I had to be honest. Just a week ago I saw how dangerous this life was, there was no point in making it even more hazardous for myself. THere was also the fact Dean would be pissed if I got myself hurt. Once again I took a moment to analyze what Dean's deep care for my well-being could be. No matter how much I wanted there to be something more, based on his actions it was just because he cared. He cared so much about people.

"That's okay if it comes to hand on hand combat I can help you," Cas said. I wasn't sure how to respond to that so I just nodded my head and looked out the window. Like a gift from God Dean took the lull in the conversation as an opportunity to turn on the music. I was excited to hear classic rock and leaned back in my seat, hoping to get some sleep. The town we were headed to was about twenty hours away from the bunker and the brother's only wanted to stop for sleep once.

Sadly I was never very good at being to sleep during car rides, and after about two hours I finally gave up. "You still awake?" Dean asked me glancing in the rearview mirror and turning the music down. It looked as if Sam had fallen asleep and Cas was nowhere to be seen. Apparently, he had angel zipped on out of there. "Good, I'm going crazy up here by myself."

"Yeah, I'm awake, on top of my annoying insomnia, car rides make it worse," I explained. I sat up and sprawled out a bit, getting more comfortable, without the angel there I had the whole back seat to myself. "So I know that it's the basic formula of weird on this case, but can you at least tell me where we're going?" I asked. Not that it really mattered, I was just along for the ride, my curiosity was getting to me. Plus I thought I could use the time in the car wisely and do some more digging on the town and local lore.

I watched Dean visibly shudder. "New Jersey." I have never heard that much disgust drenched in only two words before in my life. "This is why I and Sam stick to the Midwest, fewer crazies around here." He grumbled I couldn't help but chuckle. He sounded like a three-year-old pouting because he had to walk through Walmart. "Anyways, it's the pine barrens in New Jersey, people keep going missing out there."

People kept going missing? Now I was seriously confused. "I thought you said they were murders with no signs of break-ins," I said. Wondering if Castiel even knew what the hell he was talking about. The Winchesters weren't kidding whenever they said he was a little behind. Of course, that could happen if you were raised in heaven I suppose.

"Well, sort of yeah, they're getting kidnapped from cabins that are near the woods, two bodies have been found that were looked pretty mutilated, but near twelve people have gone missing." He explained to me. I watched the sky as the sun slowly crawled across it. Don't get me wrong I loved long car rides, but usually, I wasn't stuck in a car with a bunch of men I barely knew, headed to what could be my death. So it sort of felt like this ride would never end, and I was starting to hope it wouldn't.

"I see, so there are break-ins with no sign of a struggle." I summed up. "However there's a whole lot more going on?" It was stated like a question, I already knew the answer, but I wanted to understand the Dean's thought process when it came to figuring a case out. Especially since they had already figured out it was witch early on in the hunt back at Crowder. It was interesting to see how they figured out just what they were hunting. I was completely terrified and fascinated with the life of a hunter.


	16. Chapter 16

**Okay, so I'm back from Europe and recovered from jet lag finally. Last night, err... early this morning, I was reading a terrible fanfiction. Well, actually it was well done, good grammar, sturcture, and plot line. However in this BAO fic the author sets you up, and leads you to believe two characters are going to end up together. Then end up having the main character end up with daddy Winchester! Anywho, after getting angry and deleting the story from my bookmarks I decided to come write some, and hopefully give you all what you want.**

We pulled up to a rundown cabin way back in a dense forest. "And you're sure no one is staying here?" Dean asked his brother looking around as he slowed to a stop in front of the shack of a building. Seriously, Dean was really worried about someome being in that dump? "You did say it was a rental, if anyone books it while we're here we're screwed." Ah, so it was a vacation cabin. I wasn't sure why someone would want to stay in that dump for vacation, but then again we were going to make it our home.

"Dean, I'm pretty sure no one is going to rent this place out... ever." I said getting out of the Impala and following Dean behind to the trunk to carry in bags. "However, I can be on rental duty." Grabbing out my clothes bag, and weapon bag I walked up to the door. "So we're here to come kill something that's killing people, and staying in a place like this was your best idea?" I question. Dean rolled his eyes at me. "Doors locked."

"Here, good teaching opportunity" Dean handed me a little leather pouch. "Ever picked a lock before?" He asked me. I shook my head no. "Time to learn." We both dropped the bags and got down on our knees. "Contrary to hollywood, it actually takes quite a bit of time to pick a lock with this method." Dean began explaining to me. I was trying to pay attention I swear, but he was so damn close. Bless the person who designed this house with such a small porch. "So you're going to place this flat thin metal piece in the hole like this." He demonstrated for me, the led my hand up with his own.

"Perfect, now if you don't mind I'm going to help you through this because it's super easy to screw this part up,a ndbreak the pin." He said we slid another, more narrow metal peice in. It took about ten minutes for him to help me work through the different steps, but soon enough the door was swinging open. Dean let go of my hand and stood up, his warm presence immediately missed. Shaking it off I stood up and followed him in the cabin.

I about dropped my bags whenever I saw Castiel already standing in the living room. "How the hell did you get in here?" I asked him. "We just now, like two seconds ago got the door unlocked!"

"I flew" He answered simply and walked into the kitchen after Dean. I dead dropped the bags onto the floor and blew out an exasperated breath.

"Oh yeah, that makes so much sense, he flew into a godamn locked house!" I said raising my arms up in the air, not really speaking to anyone in particular. I shook my head, ran a hand through my messy hair, and joined the two men in the kitchen. The place wasn't nearly as bad as it looked on the outside. While furniture wasn't necessarily nice, I didn't expect that there was anything living in either of the couches. Like the rest of the rooms in the house, the kitchen was small, but clean, with a working dishwasher. "Where's Sammy?" I asked.

"He probably went looking around, this type of zen, out in the wilderness stuff is his thing." Dean said. "Alright, I'm going upstairs to claim a room before they're all taken." He said and took off up the stairs.

"Oh hell no!" I shouted and chased up them right after him. Every house had a mast bedroom, there was no doubt this one had it too. There was no way in hell I was going to let Dean score that bedroom. It may have been hopeful in that size of house too, but I was crossing my fingers for a nice mast bath too. We were both right there was a master bedroom taking up one whole side of the upstairs. "Mine!" I said seeing it before dean and running into the open room.

I dived on the bed and sprawled out just as Dean grabbed my ankle to yank me off. "Nuh, no way, you're the noob, seniority rules." Dean said. I clutched the bedding and pulled it off with me.

"If I go, the bedding goes." I said in a dead serious tone.

"Oh, good you two are going to be sharing that room." Cas said walking by us and into one of the smaller bedrooms. I blushed crimson instantly and looked away from Dean, who had stilled his movements. "Me and Sammy will take the other two, and no one has to sleep on the couch!"

"I'll sleep on the couch." Both me and Dean said at the same time.

"No, I mean really, you were right, I'm new to the team," I said standing up and straightening my clothes. I had to mentally remind myself that I was an adult, on a deadly mission. With three also grown men, and that I childish actions are not attractive. Oh little did I know, Dean is still one of the most childish adults I know.

"Is it really that hard to share a bed?" Dean asked timidly. If it was possible I felt even hotter than before. Holy shit, Dean fucking Winchester just invited me to sleep in the same bed as him... for multiple nights!

"Well, as long as you're comfortable with it." I managed to mumble out. He flashed me a smile and chuckled and I dove underneath the covers that still surrounded me on the floor, hiding my obvious reaction to his pruposal.

"I guess I'll get the bags!" He hollered, already on the way down the steps.


	17. Chapter 17

**I know, I know, it's been a really long time and I honestly have no excuse. I've just been in a writers slump, or more like an artists slump altogether. However, I have finally written again.**

After dinner I decided to take a walk, there were lots of woods and trails near the cabin. With the promise that I would take a weapon with me, Dean let me take the trail that followed along the creek before crossing it and wrapping back around. It was only about six so there was still plenty of daylight left, because of this I was able to take my time. For the majority of my walk, I was quiet and enjoyed the sounds of the woods, and reflecting on everything that happened.

It seemed like every night since my parents died I had terrible nightmares. Each one was a little different but involved me staring into the ruined eyes of my mother's. If that wasn't bad enough it soon seemed as if I was looking into my own eyes, knowing that we would share the same fate. Just as the feeling of guilt and longing felt unbearable the trail turned into a bridge leading over the water. That's where I decided to take a rest, and sat down hanging my legs over the bridge.

Once the first tear dripped off of my cheek and onto my leg it was all over. I hiccuped and furiously wiped the tears away from my face, trying to breathe. Watching the sun finish sinking past the skyline, I knew I should go back to the cabin. While I hadn't told anyone that I'd be back before dark, I knew it was expected of me. However, I felt glued to the spot, as if I couldn't move even if I wanted. "There you are." I heard a soft voice say from my right. I turned sharply and saw Dean standing above me.

"Sorry, I just wasn't ready to go back," I explained, realizing there really wasn't another excuse. "I'll head back now, though." I went to stand up, my stiffness revealing to me how long I had been standing there. A hand shoved me back down, and I made a sharp noise when I felt the thunk of my butt on the wood.

"Sit, I'll sit with you." He told me and did just that. "Look, I understand what you're feeling, and before you say anything, yes I do." I had opened my mouth, but closed it again, giving him a chance to explain himself. "First I lost my mom when I was four, a demon killed her, burned her." He took a moment to clear his throat and collect his thoughts. "Then just a few years ago I lost my dad, he made a deal with the same demon, allowing me to live." I was taken back, but then again, you'd have to go through a lot to be thrust into this world.

"I guess you do know, probably more than I do, then how this feels," I said softly feeling childish. "That's what you meant by it never goes away, isn't it?" I bit my lip trying to fight more tears. "If only I had moved faster, if I had figured it out quicker, than my parents."

"You can't do that to yourself Lyra." Dean rebuked, he reached up and snatched away one of my tears. I felt us both leaning in towards each other as if it was out of our control, but right as our lips were about to touch he pulled away. "Let's get back before it gets too much darker, we don't know yet what's out here." And so, I followed him back to the cabin in silence.

We got back to the rundown house at around eight thirty. "Alright Sammy, what do you got for us?" Dean asked, breaking into a grin as he walked into the kitchen to get a beer, before heading into the living room where his younger brother had a research set-up going. There were books laid haphazardly across the table, some of them open, or with tabs sticking out. Castiel was currently flipping through one lazily, while Sam sat in front of his laptop.

"Well, this area has no shortage of lore, however, I did narrow it down, to things that even exist," Sam explained, I grabbed myself a cold one before joining the rest of Team Free Will. "Sadly that list is still pretty long, and full of some really nasty monsters." Dean snatched the written list from the table and read through it.

"Yeah, none of these look like fun, I guess we'll have to go door to door, see if we can talk to any of the vics family," Dean said before sitting down on the couch next to the angel. For a moment I stood awkwardly in the doorway, taking sips from the bottle, before deciding that my help wasn't needed.

"Well, since you all seem to have it under control I think I'm going to take a bath and hit the hay," I said before walking up the rickety old stairs, keeping the bottle with me. After the almost-kiss on the trail, I needed it. I had been hoping Dean would go track down a bar, and I could join him like at the bunker, but it was already late, and we were all tired from the drive. So, I did what I had said, dug out my PJs from my duffle and went to the bathroom to shower.

By the time that I got in the bottle was half empty, and by the time I was laying down to go to sleep, it was empty. Debating to go throw it away before I fell asleep, I did exactly. Shifting only slightly whenever Dean came and laid down next to me. For a moment I felt my stomach flip, and felt the urge to lean over and kiss him, but didn't. Instead, I rolled over, and we both kept a respectful distance between us. Shortly after I fell back asleep.


	18. Chapter 18

**Okay I okay, I know it's been a while and I don't have a good excuse. I just have had major writers block, ad have decided to just power through it. So I apologize if these next few chapters are lack luster.**

I woke up with a slight headache, it wasn't because of the beer, I was a light weight, but not that big of one. My guess was it had something to do with the amount of crying I had done the night before, and the way Sam had decided to wake me and his brother that morning. "You two gotta wake up, and I'm not going in there. I've seen Dean screwing girls before, and I don't want to see him naked with you!"

I threw my pillow at the door and growled. "We're both clothed thank you very much!" My shouting woke Dean up, whom, until that point, had still been snoring. "Look whose finally awake, it's only nine but if we sleep any longer I think Sam might have an annuerism." I slapped him in the chest before climbing out of bed and going to get clothes out of my duffel bag. "And now I get the bathroom first!"

It didn't take us long to get ready for obvious reasons. None of us are really concerned with the way that we look. "We have no breakfast." I grumbled looking sadly into the fridge that was only stalked with beer. "I need breakfast." Already I was starting to get cranky, I needed food, all the time.

"Me and Sam can pick some up while we're out." Cas said from where he was adjusting his tie, using the black TV screen as a mirror.

"Wait, don't you and Dean usually go together?" I asked, starting to feel slightly panicked. I allowed myself to get a little worried, the angle was a little clueless and the boys weren't currently in the room. After last nights almost kiss, and the fact that I really wanted it wanted to happen, made me nervous to spend too much time with the older brother. Usually him and Cas spent a lot of time together while Sam and I hung out.

"He said he wanted to be with you, apparently he doesn't find Sam adequate to ensure your safety." Cas said, turning away from his reflection. Apparently he was satisfied, but I couldn't figure out how because he still looked like a mess. "You and him have the better job anyways, you're canvasing the whole town while me and Sam track down where the vics remaining family members are. We figured out who they are yesterday."

I nodded my head in understanding, but I couldn't figure out why Dean didn't trust Sam. The only conclusion I could think of was that he wanted to spend more time with me, and I needed get over that fact fast. "Hey, you two ready?" Sam asked climbing down the stairs, followed directly Dean. Shit, I needed to get past this crush like immediately.

"Yeah, we're ready." I said, grabbing my pistol and sliding it into my boot. "Cas tells me you and I are going to canvas the town?" I asked him. Apparently Cas had zapped him and Dean somewhere to boost a car last night, because there was an old Ford pick-up parked right next to the Impala.

"Sort of," He said as we walked towards his baby. "First we have to stop by the police station to check and see if they have any more info." I raised my eyebrows at that. We weren't exactly dressed the part for FBI agents, which according to the Winchesters is the fastest way to get what you want. It seemed as Dean could read my expression, putting the car into drive he explained. "There'd be no real reason that suits would be way out here, so we are reporters hoping to expose the town and the area as a good vacation spot."

"Awesome, I'm not gonna lie I'm not too comfortable with pretending to be a government agent yet." I sighed watching the scenery go by, it was quite a drive into the nearest town. It was awkward with just me and him in the vehicle. "Wanna listen to your AC/DC tape?" I asked, looking through his box of tapes.

"I was sort of hoping to talk to you." He said, it was clear he was nervous by the way he was tapping the steering wheel. "The, uh, well whatever happened on the bridge, I just don't want you thinking the wrong thing."

Of course, just like Dean, he couldn't have a girlfriend. "Yeah, I wasn't thinking anything into it, you don't have to worry." I tried to sound nonchalont about it all. "It won't get in the way of hunting either." He nodded his head, and I put the CD in without asking again. That was enough conversation for us, for like a whole week. And I still had to spend the night with him in bed again. Maybe I should just take the couch.

Eventually we pulled up in front of the tiny police station. "Alright, here's a notepad and pen, and here is the press badge we made you." Dean said digging through his glove box. "I'll do most of the talking, you just go along with it, they think we're press so they'll be rude." He warned, we both got out of the car and shut the doors. I followed Dean inside of the building. It looked like your everyday police station except a hell of a lot smaller.

"Hello, what can we do for you?" The officer sitting at the desk asked us. Both me and Dean stepped up and flashed our badges. "Oh yes, you called earlier this morning letting us know you were coming, is there a specific officer you'd like to talk to you?"

"Is the sheriff in right now?" Dean asked, putting away his bag, I followed suit.

"Oh yeah, here, I'll let you in his office." The officer said.


	19. Chapter 19

**So I actually have an excuse and sort of an announcement about my lack of posting. I have just started my third semester of college and I'm taking Biology, History, and Sociology all in the same semester on top of my degree classes so that's why I haven't been writing. Also I will be posting very infrequently for the same reason. I really wish I could spend more time on these, but I care about passing college too. Anyways let's get on with the show!**

The officer walked us back into a small and stuffy office when only one window behind the desk. Immediately I felt uncomfortable, not that I had done anything illegal yet, aside from squatting, but I still felt like me and Dean would get busted for... something. "Now, I don't have a lot of time, and I don't really liked to be hassalled so let's make this quick." The sheriff was probably in his thirties, tall, and extremely muscular. He could probably take out Sam with just one arm, great that was an awesome thing to think of when I had to lie this guys face.

"Of course, of course, we respect the police and appreciate everything you guys do for us." Dean replied and sat down next to where I already had in front the crowded desk. "We're here to try and help out your town anyways, we want to get to the bottom of all the disappearences, and attacks." The officer raised his eyebrows at Dean's claim. The Winchester was right, they were not happy we were there, nor did they believe a thing we said.

"We just want to debunk all of the foul rumors, like supernatural causes, curses, serial killers, and human traffickers." I said giving him a brilliant wide smile. Truthfully I had no idea if that was the case or not, but I'm sure it would be if this thing wasn't nipped in the bud. "So, you get to keep tourism up, helping the towns profit, and we get to write a harmless article and gain some more readers through credibility. That is what we want and want to expose officer, the truth." Dean was giving me a face of shock, and the sheriff shifted in his chair.

"Alright, I don't want to make any official statements, however I can answer some basic questions on the case for you all. I don't want to personally be noted, I don't want anyone thinking that I'm getting too personal." I raised my eyebrows at muscles sentence. He was personally involved, which hopefully was a good thing. Dean went through asking all of the usual questions and delicately hid things that would give us the results we needed for the case in unassuming questions.

We sat there and talked to the sheriff for almost an hour. We found out that his nephew who was fifteen had been out camping with a group of friends just for one night. They hadn't been in a cabin but rather in a tent inside one of the actual campgrounds. Their campsite had been destroyed. Some of the murders were slightly more brutal than what they had allowed the press to release. While everything was certainly locked, the bodies that had been discovered had been half eaten. Only the families were notified of that fact.

I followed Dean out to the car quietly. "Well that changes a whole hell of a lot on this case." I mumbled, the sheriff's accounts had chilled me. I had seen a lot yet, but not that much. "So a ghost or demon has got to be out, neither one of those things really has to do with eating humans." We both got into the vehicle and shut our doors.

"Not necessarily, we now have a third option, and you want to pray that it's not that third option." He replied gruffly, for now we take that info keep it, and head over to another hot spot." I sighed and nodded, worried about what that third option. "There's one restaurant in this town, I say we go get some food and see if anyone there can give us some information." I nodded my head. Worried all over again about my crush.

Before eating lunch with Dean was nothing, just a product of being a hunter, and he fact that Sam and Cas didn't like the same food we did. Now, all I could think about was what a date with Dean Winchester would be like. Probably non-existent, hunters probably didn't have dates, unless there was a nice haunted hotel in a beautiful country side. I shook my head. A getaway was a hell of a lot more than a date, and I was officially getting ahead of myself. Just as my thoughts were beginning to drift even further down that rabbit hole Dean turned the Impala off.

"Alright the Redneck Cafe, sounds like a five star restaurant to me!" He said getting out of the car. I sat there for a minute getting a minute to myself, trying to recollect myself. Focus on the case, you promised Dean that you wouldn't let it get in the way. Of course then I was thinkign about the half eaten bodies and the pictures that the sheriff had shown us. It was almost as gruesome of a sight as my parents after the fire. SOmething was out there doing that to people, it was out where we were sleeping, eating people.

"Hey!" I jumped out of my skin and pulled my gun out of my boot. Dean was chuckling to himself outside of my window. He had snuck up on me, shouted, and banged on the roof of his baby. "Let's go, I want some grub!" He shouted. I holstered my gun and unbuckled. Dean was already half way through the door whenever I started walking up. Dean needed to tell me what the third option was so my imagination didn't run wild on me. That was something I could talk to him over a bacon cheeseburger though.


	20. Chapter 20

**So sorry for such a short chapter after such a long time, my life as been... not great. There have been scares, and stress, losses of loved ones, and the possibility that my life may change completely due to something that I can't reverse. I hope you all forgive me, I haven't forgotten about this fanfiction I still really enjoy writing it. I've just had so much on my mind that I can't focus on anything at all.**

We ordered our food, and I sat uncomfortably silent for a long time, contemplating what we could be possibly hunting. "If this is about last night..." My head snapped up from where it had been looking at my fried catfish. "We can talk more about if you need to you seem like you're distressed, and trust me things get bad when we aren't working together."

I shook my head violently. Of course what had happened the night before was still on my mind and very much an issue, but not that big of one. It wasn't what had kept me so quiet. "No, it's just, what do you think we're hunting Dean, be straight with me or imagination is going to go wild." I deadpanned. He sighed leaning back in his seat. We were at a small booth right next to a window. My favorite type of place to sit at a restaurant.

"Look, I don't want to scare you especially since we don't know for sure yet, it's just theory." He started. Oh great, this just sounded absolutely fantastic! "Are you sure you want to know?" He asked, when I rolled my eyes he held up his hands and moved on. "Have you ever heard of a windigo?" He asked me. I paled, I wasn't sure about how they actually acted, but I grew up in a area that had a lot of Native Americans, so yeah, I had heard of them.

"Please tell me that the thing we're hunting is not a wendigo?" I demanded, leaning across the tablet towards him. "You know you said demons and ghosts were real, I'd really like to deal with one of those. If that were the case than I'd be of some use, and not freaking out the whole time." Dean laughed at me and I frowned. Had he been joking just to get me riled up? "You were joking? You ass, between that and your hot and cold act about the kiss I'm not going to be able to trust you!" There it was, the fucking word vomit.

Thankfully Dean took a moment to collect his thoughts and slid right past what I'd said about the kiss. "I was laughing because of your reaction, not because I tried to pull that reaction out of he." He took a bite of his burger. "Now that's just a theory, but so far what we've figured out it sounds like that's what it is." I leaned back in my chair and picked at my food. "Sammy's looking into it, trying to ask questions directed towards that so maybe we can find out for sure."

"Yeah, okay, fire kills them right?" I asked. The urge to ask him about what the hell his behavior had been about lately was unbearable. It was frustrating trying to read Dean, borderline impossible. Especially because I was still trying to get know him, maybe I should just talk to Sammy or Cas about this, I bet either would tell me what was on the oldest Winchester's mind.

"Yeah, fire kills them, if this is the case, we'll go into the woods tomorrow with some flame throwers. Don't get ahead of yourself though we have to figure out what exactly it is, and the history behind it. Going into a fight half cocked is never a good idea." I waved my fork at his mini-lecture casually. We ate and made some small talk for the next few hours. Dean told me story after story about previous hunts he had been on. How him and Sam had inherited the bunker, and even mentioned that he and Sam had both been dead at one point. That was mind boggling to me, but I was quickly learning how impossible things happened around the Winchesters.

About an hour later Dean looked at the clock. "It's about one now, so we killed the morning." He said with a sigh. It was clear, unlike Sam, Dean didn't care for this part of the job. "We should head over to the rental shop, see if they have any maps of the woods." He laid some cash on the table and stood up. I followed him back out the door. As we were driving back towards the waterways the waiting finally got the best of me.

"Dean, can we please talk about the kiss." I said with a deep sigh. "I, liked it and yeah it's distracting, so you need to tell me what's going on." I deadpanned. It was obvious how uncomfortable he was. He turned down the volume of the radio and nervously tapped the steering wheel. "I'm not going to go all crying teenage girl on you if you tell me it meant nothing, but I need something more than the vague answer you gave me this morning."

"It can't mean anything." He said gruffly. "I didn't do it just to cause issues or lead you on, but in our line of life, you can't have relationships." I nodded my head. "Looks like we're almost here." Sure enough the sign sticking out on the side of the road. It advertised all kinds of boat and hiking equipment. Thankfully the conversation was cut short as we pulled into the gravel parking lot. "You coming?"

"No, I'll just wait out here." I mumbled.


	21. Chapter 21

**Sorry for such a long break again guys, this semester is kicking my ass. Please leave a review, I love hearing from you all! I plan on doing both a Thanksgiving and Christmas special, so look out for those!**

It felt like ages before Dean walked back to the vehicle, he had another twelve pack in his hand, and a couple of flame throwers. I rolled my eyes, what happened to 'not ougoing in half cocked'. I thought to myself. He loaded the stuff in the back seat before getting in the drivers seat. "Something convince you that it is a Windigo?" I asked him. He gave me a quizzical look, but I was done with talking about any romantic issues with him. He had shut that door, locked and dead-bolted it.

"Something that the old store clerk in there said." He pulled out of the parking lot, throwing gravel as he left. "He was half Native American, and when I saw some tourists pamphlets about the Indians in this region, one of the first things he mentioned were Wendigos." I nodded. "I sent Sammy a text, they found a lot of stuff at the library on the local lore here, they're gonna bring it to the house, and we'll spend the afternoon checking it out."

"Sweet, I was hoping to take a swim tonight. Maybe we can breeze through the books."

"That's dangerous?"

"Isn't our whole job dangerous?"

"Yes, but that's just being stupid."

"Then come swim with me."

Dean stiffened and didn't reply. I cursed myself, things were awkward now, I couldn't make jokes or even slightly flirt with him. "I really don't want you swimming." He said finally minutes later as we pulled into the driveway of the vacation house. "We don't for sure what's out in those woods, and Wendigos can mimic human voices." I sighed, his logic was too sound for me to argue.

"Alright fine, but I get the bathtub again tonight." I said indignantly and got of the Impala. Cas and Sam were already at the large kitchen table four or five books spread out around them. "Alright guys, where do you want me to start?" I asked sitting down next to them. Castiel didn't even look up when he handed me one off of the table. I read the title _Native American Lore and Legend._ "Alright, guess I'll get started then."

Three hours, and eight beers later, I finally set down the last book. "Well, it certainly seems like a lot of people really thought Wendigos were here." I said and leaned back, stretching. "We need to figure out when the last attacks were, though. Figure out how many people this thing is gonna wanna take, and how long it will be out of hibernation, or whatever it does." I was pretty proud of myself for gathering all of that.

"Old information." Sam said from where he was sitting watching some terrible TV show with Dean. I wasn't sure where Cas went, but he was always bouncing in and out. Guess he was being torn between angel duty and Winchester duty. "Why don't you go get some rest?" He offered. "You've been working longer than any of us, you deserve a break."

"Wait, doesn't this place have a hottub?" Dean suddenly perked up. "I had forgotten all about that! Yes!" He ran up the stairs, to put on something to swim in, I assumed.

"C'mon Sammy!" I said walking, with much less enthusiasm. "I'll pray to Cas, and let him know where we're at." By the time I made it up stairs, Dean was wearing a pair of boxers and walking back down the huge staircase. I changed quickly and met the two brothers out on the back patio. They were already lounging in the hot, bubbly water. I climbed in slowly relishing the warmth. Just like the brothers, I was simply in underwear, hunters didn't pack around swimsuits. It was impractical.

"I brought you out a beer." Dean said and handed the Budweiser bottle to me. I popped the top on the outside of the tub, and took a swig. Tomorrow we were going to spend the day out in woods, searching for these creatures. The images and illustrations from all of the books flashed through my mind, and I began to chug the beer. I was longing for the days of witches, and I wondered what else would be lurking in those woods. "Easy there, the hot water will get you drunker faster."

I ignored him, finished the beer, and then started another. "Don't worry, I won't drink so much that I have a hangover." I waved off his concern. Sam laughed at us.

"You two are really something." The younger Winchester shook his head.

Castiel suddenly appeared in the pool shirtless. "There's our fourth member!" I said, probably too loudly. "You may be the only one actually wearing a swimsuit."

Dean, who was sitting right next to him, looked down into the water. "Dude, where did you get those?" He asked laughing.

"Gabriel said that this was what human males wore to swim?" The blue eyed angel replied. That's when I noticed, he was wearing a speedo. I busted up laughing and shook my head. "Is it not?" He asked and stood up, to show us all. Sam blushed and waved for him to sat back down as both me and Dan lost it.

We stayed up late soaking, drinking, and enjoying our time. I'm sure none of the guys were worried, but it was a good way for me to get my mind off of the next days events. All four of us got out at the same time, thankfully Dean still let me have the bathroom, so I can have my promised bath. I had a half empty bottle next to the tub once again as I sat with everything but my nose and eyes out of the bubble bath. Tomorrow was my first real day of hunting. It terrified me to think that I was going to walking into a death trap, literally. Especially since these creature were so damn cunning, even a ghost hunt would have been a good first. This definitely was not, especially with my mind so distracted by Dean. His lips, his bone structure, those eyes, and of course his wit and humor.

Yeah, tomorrow was going to be loads of fun!


	22. Chapter 22

**Hey guys, good news the semester is over! So over Christmas break I'm hoping to do a good bit of writing, planning on writing ahead some so I have a few chapters stocked up for the fall semester. This means if you have any suggestions or want to see anything particular you'll want to let me know now!**

I woke up the next morning with a slight headache, and in a very cold bath. Apparently I fell asleep in the tub last night. Pushing the drain to let the water run out and stood up, snatching a towel. "Lyra, what the hell are you doing!" I heard Dean banging on the door. "I swear if you drowned in that fucking tub!" His voice sounded angry with just the smallest hint of panic.

"Dean, I'm fine, I just fell asleep in here last night. I'll be ready in ten!" I hollered back at him. I heard him sigh loudly, mumble something incoherently, and stomp away from the door. I let out a breath and began to dry off. I put on a pair of durable, but flexible skinny jeans, a form fitting black shirt, and a red plaid. Once I fully clothed I popped open the door and began brushing my hair, so I could throw it up in a high ponytail. It was casual, but a lot of thought went into my choices. It was perfect for the sort of hunt we were going on.

"Ten minutes is up." Dean said poking his head through the door. "Are you ready?" I finished tying the hairband and nodded. "Good, we're packing some food, we aren't sure how long we will be..." He trailed off, his looking me up and down. "Hurry up." I sighed and looked at myself in the mirror. It wasn't about me and Dean's non-existent relationship anymore. I could very well be walking to my death, and I needed to be okay with that. I couldn't be of use on the hunt if I was scared to die, I had to be ready for it, willing for it.

A moment later I was walking down the stairs. Cas was putting food into a bag while Dean and Sam were reassembling their pistols. "Whoops, I guess I forgot about cleaning mine." I said, feeling a little ridiculous. That's one of the first things that the Winchesters taught me, a clean gun is less likely to jam or misfire.

"It should be okay, you haven't used it a lot." Sammy said and slid a red and black 9mm pistol my way. "These things aren't even effective against these bastards, but it's a fail safe, just in case we're wrong." He explains. I nodded and dropped out the clip, getting ready to fill it. "You know how to use a blow torch don't you?" He asked me.

"Yeah, I do, and Dean got small tanks so I should be able to carry mine." I said. Dean grunted and shook his head. He was in a bad mood this morning, and I wasn't sure why. Nothing really happened last night, and the only thing wrong I did was fall asleep in the tub, nothing serious. "I was carrying it myself no matter what size." I said in realization.

"You wanted to be a hunter." Dean told me tucking his pistol in the back of jeans. I finished loading mine and shoved it in my tall combat boots. "We're going to treat you like one."

"Foods packed." Cas says from the kitchen.

"We'll let's get going." Sam said standing up from his seat in the kitchen.

It had been hours, and we were tired and cranky, and I was getting sore. "Are you sure you can handle this." Sam said, I had been walking at the back of the group by myself, but a few minutes ago Sam had slowed down to join me. "The hunt I mean, I know you and Dean have been acting weird lately, and this is your first real hunt."

"I'll be fine." I all but snapped at the hunter. Taking a deep breath I tried to clear my head. "I'm serious, Sam, you don't have to worry about me." I promised. "However, some food would be really nice, and it's not like we've even seen anything alluding to a windigo."

"Food sounds delicious!" Dean called from up ahead, of course he was listening in. The more we walked the better his mood seemed to get, apparently hunting was good for him. It made sense, there was no way Dean could be doing anything else with his life. It was all he had ever really known. "Here? Here seems good." He said an plopped himself on the ground.

Cas stopped suddenly, as to not step on his friend. "Right here?" The angel asked, his eyes raised. When Dean just gestured Castiel sighed and sat down next to the Winchester. Sam just shrugged and sat down too. Well, if you can't beat 'em join 'em. As I sat down Sam took his bag off and began distributing the sandwiches.

We ate and joked, and tried to make a game plan. We scanned our surroundings, constantly alert, but not un-relaxed. "Everybody done?" Sam asked. When we all agreed he started cleaning up, and I helped him. "Cas?" I looked up from where I was gathering trash. Dean was looking at where Cas was once sitting on the ground. "Dammit, he's always just poofing out without warning, and half the time its when we need him!"

"I'm sure he had something important." I offered, Sam gave me a 'don't even try it look'. "So he does this often then, leave in the middle of the hunt I mean?" I asked instead.

"It's a recent habit he's picked up." Sam explained, zipping the backpack and throwing it over his shoulder. "Calm down Dean, you know he will be back for the real action." We all stood up and I eyed Dean. This seemed like something that's been going on since before I was around. I had heard a little bit about how heaven was in a mess thanks to Dean and Sam killing off the archangel Michael, which was just so wild to me I could hardly believe it.

"So we keep walking." I said, not so thrilled to start again.

"We keep walking." Dean said with determination and lead us on once again.


	23. Chapter 23

**And were back with another chapter and I am full of inspiration. I spent the new year in St. Louis, my home town, and had a blast. It has put me in the perfect mood to create! Please leave a review, I live off of them. Oh, and about the screwed up timeline, yes Dean and Sam are now just a little bit older than season one, it's as if all of the events happened sooner and faster than in the show.**

We had been trecking for another hour and a half, this time with Sam in the lead. I was starting to get sore and tired, oh yeah, and very very cranky. Dean hadn't allowed me to walk in the back for fear that'd I'd be snatched up. This meant I had to feel Dean's eyes boring into the back of my skull with no reprieve.

"We should talk." Dean finally broke the silence, we had slowed down enough that Sam was just out of earshot. My heart started pounding in my chest, it was his idea to drop it and to just focus on the hunt today, what had changed? "Look, I can't... can't focus on _anything_ but you." He stopped, clearly uncomfortable.

"You said to let it go." My voice was cold and curt. He was so exhausting and confusing, it was hard to put up with. How Sammy put up with him I would never understand.

"I, like you, a lot." I waited, an eyebrow raised even though he couldn't see my face, I was still walking ahead of him. "But, everyone me and Sammy are around dies, or gets hurt, so I can't let myself care about you."

"Idiot." I mumbled under my breath.

"Excuse me?" Dean asked, he genuinely hadn't heard.

"Nothing, continue."

"Oh, well, I just mean, I don't want you to hate me." He was hesitating. I could picture him making his serious/nervous face. "It's just I can't do this to you, but we can't be out here trusting each other with our lives, but not actually trusting." He made a solid point. "So, I just want us to be normal, okay, friends."

I sighed, we had never been normal, I'd always had a huge crush him. Even a month ago when I first saw him I knew I liked him. "Yeah, I think I can do that." A lie. "The kiss was just a kiss that's all." Another lie. "I trust you Dean in every sense of the word, you just have to trust me." The truth, finally. I did trust him. Even with all of this awkwardness, I never not trusted Dean Winchester.

"Good." We walked in silence for a little while longer, the nettles crunching under our feet as we continued further into the woods. "I trust you too, I mean, you're new and all, but I know you'd do anything to help me and my brother." I hummed in agreement, he was right, it hadn't been long that we'd known each other, but we'd all quickly formed a bond. Apparently I wasn't the first to join their team, but it seemed I may be the first to actually become an honorary Winchester.

"He Dean."

"Yeah."

"I like you a lot too."

"Oh."

"Yup."

"Thank you." I tried not to blush at his gratitude.

It was a few more minutes of walking in almost silence. Dean and I were humming every Creedence Clearwater song we both knew. That's when we heard it, well Dean heard it first. "DEAN!" It was Castiel's voice and it sounded like he was in pain. Panic fluttered in my chest as immediately thought the worst. All three of us hunters reached down and grabbed the end of our blow torches ready to go. "Dean, Help!" Cas called again.

"Why aren't we running?" I whispered to the two brothers. Every fiber in my being compelling me to run.

"What was one of the very fundamental things about Wendigos that we discussed?" Sam hissed, eyeing the tops of the trees.

I searched my brain for just a moment when I remembered, "Oh, they mimic voices." I whispered back at them. Dean rolled his eyes and gave me a 'duh' look. This time a wail echoed through the area. "That way!" I said pointing in a direction. "Look, I used to live in a valley, everything echoed down there, I learned to locate the source, trust me.

Sammy looked unconvinced, but Dean and I locked eyes. He had claimed he'd trusted me. "We go that way." The oldest Winchester started walking in the direction I was pointing. As the sound got further away we picked up our pace. Eventually we stalled when we got to the entrance of a cave. "So, who wants to go first?" Dean asked looking at all of us. I was white knuckling my torch, which now slowly had fuel pumping out of hit, when I pulled the trigger the flow would open and it would ignite.

"Not Lyra." Sam said chuckling, but he looked a little nervous himself. They'd only ever hunted one of these, so even they seemed to be on edge. "Guess that leaves me." He said and slowly crept into the entrance. We had to crawl for a few moments before being able to stand up.

"We've got to stay together." Dean instructed, waving his hand forward and taking the lead. The cries had stopped, we'd gone exactly where the creatures wanted us too, now they would rely on the element of surprise.

The pace picked up as we moved more quickly, the deeper we got, the larger the cavern became. It wasn't long before I felt a slight breeze coming from my right. I turned, and faced another passageway. "Hey guys, what about this?" I asked, I had been in the back of the group this time, and was surprised that the guys hadn't noticed it.

Dean turned around to look, and immediately opened his mouth to shout something. At the same exact second I felt myself being ripped into the passage ways by sharp claws on my arm. Dean's and I shouts mingling as the rock blurred around me, and I felt blood drip down my arm. Shit, I was seriously going to die.


	24. Chapter 24

**Thank you thank you THANK YOU! Those of you who left a review are the reason why I'm writing this right now! I super appreciate it! Just as requested here is the next chapter, and you get to find out a little bit of what happened *wink wink*. I will warn there is still a lot to this fanfiction, it's gonna be freaking long! Also a little bit of a language warning, there is the f word, I use it a lot myself, and it just feels in character for Lyrah, so yeah, she says it under certain circumstances.**

I woke up with a pounding headache and couldn't remember exactly when I fell asleep. No, that was dried blood on my lip, I had gotten knocked out. Shit, shit, shit. I looked around trying to make anything out in the pitch black. It was no use though, not yet, not when I had just woken up and my vision was still wonky. My hands were held above my head, leaving my feet to dangle uselessly. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, taking a minute to listen. The creature didn't seem to be near, it was probably trying to clear Sam and Dean out before eating me. Smart.

After waiting for the pain to subside to a bearable level I opened my eyes again. This time I could make shapes out and see well enough to analyze my surroundings. Panic was coursing through my chest, first freaking hunt would also be my last. I was such a good for nothing. Oh well, at least the few people that would have died from this thing might be saved. I certainly wasn't going down without a fight.

That's when I saw it, the familiar silhouette of my propane and torch. Perfect, if I could just figure out a way to get out the bindings. Gripping the rope that suspended me, I heaved myself up and began to swing my legs. I was fairly close to a ridged, rocky wall. If I could just get a foot hold I could lift to take the strain off and maybe weasel my way out. It was one thing I was good at, I was flexible, and could twist out of almost any wrestling hold, could this really be any different? "Here we go." I whispered to myself.

It took me a while, but eventually I was able to support myself in an almost vertical angle. I twisted and yanked for I don't know how long, stopping occasionally to listen for the disgusting, alien looking creature. However, nothing worked, I was tied so tight that my hands were starting to turn a deep red from loss of circulation. I looked up at my hands and shuttered at the thought, but knew there was no other option. Turning my left hand in an odd angle I took a deep breath. I dropped down suddenly shoving my body down as hard as I could. I bit back a scream as I felt the joint in my thumb shift out of place. Just like that, my hands slipped through the binding.

I thought about shoving it back into place, but knew better. A dislocated thumb needed a splint to heal right, and I couldn't permanently damage my hand. I ran straight for the propane torch and turned it on. "Alright you fucker! Are you going to eat me or not!" I shouted into the cavern. Then I waited, hopefully it would leave the Winchesters to see what I was doing.

I was in luck, just a few moments later I saw it flash in from an opening across the ceiling of the cavern. Immediately I lit the torch and pointed it at the disgusting thing. It was faster than I anticipated though and it dodge the stream of fire. The next thing I knew my vision was a blur of teeth and claws. I tried to block it's attack with the handle of the torch but it ripped the same arm it grabbed earlier again, and I felt more blood pour out. I knew without looking that my bone had been exposed. Running purely off of energy I lit the torch again, this time landing on my mark. I watched satisfied as it screeched and tried to law the flames off of itself. I decided killing things by fire was really, really satisfying.

Once the thing stopped moving on the ground, I headed for the exit. Next thing I had to accomplish was finding the brothers, who seemed to still be alive, before I bled out. I didn't make it far before I realized I had no idea where I was going and had lost too much blood along with my head injury. Sitting down I sighed, doing the only thing I could think of. "Cas, I'm hurt, we found the Wendigo, I'm some where in the tunnel system, bleeding out." I waited for a minute. "Uh, amen... I think?"

I heard a flap of wings and saw a concerned angel standing in front of me. "I'll get you out and back to where they parked the Impala, outside of the trails, then I'll get them." He told me and placed a hand on my head. I felt a pull on my gut and then I was sitting in the backseat of Dean's baby.

"Hey Cas, before you leave, do you think you could heal me?" I asked. I felt bad asking him for so much because I was being reckless. He looked at me almost apologetically.

"I'm sorry, I'm not strong enough." He almost whispered before disappearing once again. Son of a bitch, I laid my head back and tried to keep my eyes open. Falling asleep now would be bad. Dean and Sam would be here, and they could stop the bleeding until Dean could get me stitched up at the house. It was a wound to my arm, it was not fatal.

It wasn't long before Cas was back with both Sam and Dean, they immediately ran to me. "Dean drive." I said immediately. I need it stitched ASAP. He looked like he wanted to argue, but it was better for him to get us to the house while Sammy made sure I didn't lose anymore blood. He listened, and climbed in the front seat next to Castiel, while Sam climbed in the back with me.

"Alright, it's not a long drive, you'll be fine." The younger Winchester told me, as if he was convincing himself. He tore off a piece of shirt and wrapped it around the deep gash. About the same time Dean tore out of the gravel parking lot, going way to fast. It was over, my first hunt was over, and I had been the one to kill the monster. I had just killed a freaking wendigo.


	25. Chapter 25

**Even more reviews already, which means another chapter already! Seriously though I was on the verge of putting this on hiatus during the semester but since people are really liking the latest chapters, I will continue writing!**

I felt my self being carried into the old rental house, and practically thrown on the couch. I winced, but didn't have the energy to really protest. "Get the alcohol and the first aid kit, she's going to need stitched." It was Dean commanding someone, probably Sammy. "Hey, look at me." He commanded, my eyes locked with his, and it took a moment for me to focus on him.

"It's not that bad."

He laughed bitterly at me. "You're right, you aren't going to die as long as we keep you from losing much more blood." His voice was concerned. I looked over as Sammy walked back in from the Impala carrying a bag. He didn't look near as panicked as his older brother so I had to assume that Dean was overreacting. What was new?

Castiel laid a bottle of Wild Turkey on the coffee table. I grabbed it and took a long drink from it. "That's for the wound." The angel protested. I rolled my eyes and laid it back down. Dean picked it up and poured some over the wound, he immediately grabbed my arm as I tried to yank away. It felt like he just lit a fire on my arm, and I bit my cheek until it bled, trying not to scream. I had seen Sam do this once and he barely even flinched. The brothers were insane.

"Holy shit!" I finally gasped out as the feeling subsided. "Give me more of that." I demanded, and yanked the bottle away from him. I took a deep drink and coughed a little at the end. Dean took from me again, I thought he was going to pour it over the cut, instead he drank some of it himself. Sammy announced he was going to take a shower and with Cas out of sight I assumed he left again.

"This is going to hurt." Dean warned as he threaded floss through an oddly curved needle. "You're going to need more of this." He told me. I took the bottle that he was holding out and took a bigger drink. The older Winchester started to stick the needle into my skin. I hissed in pain, and tried my hardest to sit still. It hurt much, much worse than the alcohol from before. Once Dean finished he took the bottle back and chugged the thing like it was water.

"You trying to get drunk?" I asked him and raised an eyebrow, rotating my shoulder trying to get used to the constant dull pain.

"Yes, thank you for noticing." The hunter replied, and took another drink. "You scared the shit out of me, Lyra." He said more seriously. "But, you did good, you ganked a Wendigo on your first real hunt. That's a big deal." We locked eyes and I let myself get lost in the jade abyss for a moment. "You'll forever be able to tell other hunters about that, you're a born natural."

"Thanks." I whispered back. My head was starting to spin, and I felt a tug at my sinuses. The drunkenness was beginning to set in, and as Dean put the bottle of Wild Turkey back to his lips, I saw in his eyes that he was too. We were suddenly very close and I could feel breath mingling with mine. I was expecting him to pull away shocked, but he just sat there staring at me. "It was weird, I was almost ready to give up, but all I could think about was how many people, especially you, could die if I did." Word vomit.

"Yeah, that's pretty much what being a hunter is." He replied. Then we were kissing again, I can't remember who initiated it, all I remember is it. His lips were soft, a stark contrast to his mannerisms. While I reached up to wrap my arms around his neck, and his hands traveled down to my waste. The kiss went from soft and innocent to heated and desperate in seconds. "Why did I not let myself do this sooner?" He asked pulling away from me to catch his breath.

His eyes were dilated as he stared at me. "Because you're an idiot." I replied and leaned in to kiss him again. This time I moved to straddle his hips my knees on either side of Dean against the coffee table, I was practically sitting on his lap. He picked me up and carried me up the stairs, towards our shared bedroom. "You sure?" I asked him pulling away.

"I'm Dean freaking Winchester, of course I'm sure." He breathed against my neck. I practically mewled and melted into putty. Soon I was being thrown against the mattress.

I woke up the morning naked and pressed against an equally naked, warm body. Shit, I was pressed against Dean's naked body. "Fuck, Dean, shit shit." I was shaking him vigorously awake. He groaned and rolled over. "Winchester! I practically shouted, we slept together, last night..." I trailed off. He jolted up as if just remembering. "It was good though." I spat out before he could say anything else. "I... want to do it again..."

He paused as if thinking, for a moment I thought he was pulling away from me again, throwing up walls. Instead he just responded. "I do too." I couldn't help but break into a huge smile. "But, we'll have to deal with lecture after lecture if we tell Sammy."

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that's fine with me." I leaned over and gave him a kiss. "Gross, morning breath, let's get ready to head out, and then we can kiss." I chuckled. I stole the blanket and wrapped up heading towards the bathroom.


	26. Chapter 26

**Thank you again for another review! Every time I see a new one it makes me so happy. If anyone has any suggestions or corrections please let me know, I want to make this the best it can be. Also, sorry for the late update, classes are back in session so updates will be less frequent. There is some slight drunk driving in this, nothing happens, but it's pretty clear that the driver isn't sober. I don't condone this at all, but I needed to for plot purposes. Also as another warning, there is some sexual harassment in this chapter too, nothing more than kissing though.**

Me and Dean walked down the stairs to see Cas and Sam still hanging out on the couch. "So, we're not leaving I take it?" I asked confused. Sure it was just now about eight A.M., but the older Winchester had made it seem that we would be leaving.

"What the hell Sam, we should be getting gone." Dean snapped. "You know the rule, we get out of town as soon as we can."

"Yes well, we only killed one Wendigo in one cave, I want to stick around until tomorrow morning, make sure that she really ganked em all." Sammy responded with just as much sass. "We need to take a breather before we leave anyways."

Dean huffed and looked around as if trying to figure out what to do. "Well, I'm going to go get some grub, lunch or breakfast food?" He asked.

"Burgers." Castiel said from his spot on the couch. He was watching some ridiculous soap that Dean got him into. For once I agreed with Sammy, there absolutely nothing appealing about those ridiculous, over-acted shows.

"I'll ride with." I told Dean and dropped my already packed bag, to follow him out to the Impala.

"Are we not going to talk about how weird it is that you all want burgers at eight in the morning?" Sammy said looking around at all of us. I shrugged along with Dean, and Cas just stared blankly at the younger Winchester. "Apparently not, get me a parfait."

"Alright, nerd." Dean huffed and we walked out the door. As soon as we were out by the Impala I leaned in and kissed him, he returned the gesture and held me even closer, his hand exploring. "Dammit, I really wish we could tell them." He breathed out as I pulled away. "You ready?"

I sighed, "Yeah, let's go get some food." It felt like I was walking on air. We went, got the food, and then headed back to the house. We all sat around watching awful daytime TV while eating our food. "There's a bar with really good reviews around here." I said after our fifth episode of the bachelor. "It's a little bar, a local one it seems like." I was scrolling through the Google reviews for a little place called Under-Cliff. "Apparently it's partially inside of a cave." I looked up at the group. "Who wants to go?"

Castiel tentatively raised his hand and Sam reached up and pulled it right back down. "No, we're staying again tonight to make sure that those things are all dead and the town is safe. None of us should be going out drinking." Ugh, another freaking lecture. I gave Dean my best puppy dog eyes, if he was willing to back me up the two of us would at least be able to go.

He locked eyes with me, and gave me an intense stare. Apparently he agreed with his brother, but I knew that I could break him. "C'mon Sammy you and Cas can stay here and hold down the fort." Yessss. "You two got this, and we'll take our guns to the bar." He stood up from the chair he was sitting in and grabbed his leather jacket. I finished zipping my shoes and followed him out the door.

When we got to the bar it was fairly crowded, but not an overly rough scene. Perfect for me and Dean. As we walked up to the door he grabbed my hand and intertwined it with mine. Oh yeah, this was going to be a great night. We walked in and Dean 'found' us a place at the bar. Which insisted of staring down the guy that was randomly taking a seat with two empty ones on either side of him. "What can I get you two?" The bartender asked us.

"Uh, we'll start with two hurricanes." Dean said, looking at me for approval. I nodded my head in agreement, and the man got to work on the drinks.

Three hurricanes, and a shot of whiskey later, me and Dean were both feeling really, really good. The bartender had been friendly to us, staying and chatting for a while whenever bringing us drinks, and always cracking jokes to us while he was making others. It was a really good night, I was having fun, and needed a good distraction. Soon enough the older Winchester had to use the restroom, which left me alone at the bar counter. Sure enough, Michael returned over from where he had delivered another drink to chat.

"Where'd your guy go, ditch yah?" He asked me, leaning across the counter. My brain was clouded, and didn't register the gap between us quickly closing. "Pretty thing like you, he better be careful."

"Nah, I may not look it, but trust me I am more than capable of taking care of myself." I said with a distinct slur to my speech.

Michael laughed at me, and inched even closer. "Oh, I'm sure you can handle yourself, that's not what I was referring to." Before I could pull away lips were slammed into mine, in a split second I was trying to shove him off of me. It's not like I was that attached the hunter yet, but I didn't even know this guy, there was no way I was going to let him kiss me. Just as I was raising my arm to elbow in the pressure point on his neck I felt a swift movement and all of a sudden Michael was no longer kissing me.

Dean was standing next to me breathing heavily, and Michael was sprawled across the counter. "What the actual fuck was that!?" He shouted at the room. Everyone else went quiet, and the waitress that was working walked timidly up to us. "Don't worry, we're leaving." He snapped and grabbed my arm dragging me out of the bar. "You want to explain?" He asked me as we got into the Impala.

"I swear, I was trying to get him off of me, I didn't want him to do this." I snapped back at him. Pissed that he would accuse me of something like this. "You really think I'd kiss a guy like that when I finally have a chance with you!" I snarled back. He put the vehicle in reverse and tore out of the parking lot.

"This isn't going to work if you're going to let other guys do what they want with you." He said, he was less angry now. "What are we even doing?" He mumbled under his breath.

"Pull over." I told him suddenly, he turned and looked at me like I was crazy. "I said pull over." I locked eyes with him and raised my eyebrows in a challenge. "I'm going to remind you what you're doing with me."


	27. Chapter 27

**I want to say I am so sorry for such a late update, six months ago. I've had a lot happen, my last semester of college did not go smoothly, I got robbed, can't find a job more than the part time one I worked through college, and I got engaged. So yeah, life's been a little crazy. I like this fanfic though, and still have plans for it. Please leave a review, if you're still reading this, or even if I posted it like a year ago, I'd still love to read what you have to say.**

I woke up to the sound of a semi rushing past us and sun streaming in on my face from all directions. "What the hell?" I mumbled squinting. I had a pounding headache and felt like I might throw up, scratch that, I definitely was going to throw up. I sat up suddenly, ignoring the very male grunt that came from beneath me. I made it just in time to make sure all of my vomit made it outside of the vehicle.

"Are you okay?" Dean asked from behind me, ah he was the male grunt. Oh shit, he was the male grunt, I was still in the Impala, and it was daylight out.

"Dean, we're still in the Impala, on the side of the road, at..." I reached over and grabbed his phone to look at his watch, "shit nine thirty, Sam and Cas are going to be-"

"Pissed."

"I was going to say worried." I rolled my eyes at him. "We need to get back to the cabin like now, and figure out what we're going to tell your brother." I was struggling to get dressed again, while staying underneath the windows. "Got any ideas, Mr. secretive?" I finished shimming into my jeans before hopping the front seat to sit on the passengers side. "I mean, we could always just tell them the truth..."

"No!" Dean said adamantly from the back seat, as he climbed over he was still slipping on his plaid. "I told you, we can't get too attached to each other, bad things happen when I get too close to people, just ask Sam and Cas, they know first hand." He sighed and started the vehicle. "If I tell Sammy I just feel like, it's too real." I let the subject drop and looked out the window.

"We still have to come up with a lie for why we were out all night." I said grumpily. Dean reached over and turned on the music, but leaving it down so we could each other talk.

"It's simple, we'll just tell them we both found someone to spend the night with and then met up this morning." He was tapping his fingers on the steering wheel, almost nervously. "If it makes you feel better, I'll blame the whole late in the morning issue on me." I just mumbled out a reply. Hiding was not just going to suck because I didn't like doing it, but it was going to be exhausting to jump through hoops all of the time.

"So are we headed back to the bunker?" I asked the older hunter, both because I was curious, and because I was eager to change the subject. "Unless Cas or Sam found a case of course."

Dean shrugged. "Probably, I'm not really ready to go back yet, I like the bunker, but it makes me antsy, I like being out on the road." I thought about that for a minute. I certainly liked being out on a hunt too, it, and the alcohol, kept my mind off of my... Nope not gonna think about it, not going to think about them. I bit my lip fighting back tears. If Dean noticed anything, he didn't say it. He was good at that, leaving me alone when I was clearly losing control of my emotions.

Castiel was out on the porch looking extremely worried, and Sammy was just coming out of the woods, flame thrower in hand when we pulled up. I got out of the car slowly blushing. "Where the hell have you two been!?" Sam was walking towards us, and had a look of death. For a moment I was scared he would use the flame thrower against us.

"Well we found some people to you know... dance with at the bar." Dean said raising his eyebrows. "What are you doing? Did you find another Wendigo?"

"No, we thought one took you two last night." Cas was angry, he still didn't have a lot of personality in his tone, but it was obvious just by the way he was standing. "It would have eased our minds to at least get a text from either one of you." I was now digging a small hole with my combat boot in the gravel of the driveway. "Anyways we need to get going now, I believe your stuff is already packed?"

"Yeah, it is, Lyra, You wait here, I'll grab the bags." Dean said to me and walked inside with Sammy following closely behind him.

"Did you and Sam find a case?" I asked Cas as we got in the back seat of the Impala. "I'm still a little restless, not sure if I'm ready to go back to the bunker."

"You're a lot like Dean." The angel said looking at me curiously. "You two seem to be getting very close."

"Not as close as I'd like." I admitted. "He says he doesn't want anyone getting to close to him. Says that you and his brother know more about that than anyone else?" It was stated as a question, I was hoping that maybe Cas would tell me a little more about it. I knew that both Dean and Sam had gone to hell, but I didn't quite know why.

"Yes, Dean seems to think that everything bad that ever happens is because of him." The angel stated simply. "However, there is nothing more he could've done to prevent anything that has happened to any of us, I just wish he would understand."

The two brothers opened the trunk and threw in the bags before getting in the front seat. "Me and Cas found a case late last night, so now we're heading to Branson, MO, a place called Shepherd of the Hills." Sam said reading from an article on his phone. So that answered the question that Castiel had not answered for me. "It's a show place there, it also has a tower, zip-line, and horseback riding."

"Hey I know Branson." I said from the back seat, we were quickly heading off the back roads and back towards the highways. "I went there once as a kid, it's got a lot of old people, lots of crappy shows, and an amusement park too."

"Good, have you been to this Shepherd of the Hills place?" Dean asked me.

"Yeah I did, just the show though, didn't see anything weird though, not that I would have been looking back when I was nine." I replied.

"Alright Sammy give us the run down." Dean said, he seemed excited to be going straight to another hunt.

"Well, there has always been rumors of ghosts and supernatural happenings, stuff like seeing specters and poltergeist, however nothing ever came of it." We all paused, knowing there was more. "Until yesterday, when someone was on a zip-line the lights suddenly turned off and all the thick steel lines were cut, killing one young boy. Witnesses also claimed to see a civil war soldier who wasn't there before or after the event just during."

"Definitely sounds like an us problem." Dean replied, turning up the music and continuing down the road. The whole ride back to the mid-west I sat thinking of the case, and of Dean and I. It was official, I was going have to let me and Dean get caught if I didn't want to keep us a secret. However, I had to decide if I wanted to lie to Dean like that, it wasn't like we were a real couple or anything anyways...

 **I was originally just going to have Sam and Cas find out this chapter, but felt like that may be rushing things a bit. Also, Branson is a real place, and so is Shepherd of the Hills. My older sister worked there for a couple of years and saw some really weird crap there, so if you believe in the supernatural than, yeah you might consider it haunted. Also, if you want to see more about ghosts at Shepherd of the Hills and the Branson area you should Google it.**


	28. Chapter 28

**I hope everyone had a good Labor Day, well, those of you who live in the U.S. Thankfully I didn't have to work which means that I am rested and ready to go to get this thing written in like one sitting. I'm working on another fanfiction right now where the chapters are much longer than these, I've been thinking about making these chapters longer. If that's something you would like let me know.**

I felt like my lungs were trying to collapse in on themselves as I took another deep breath of smoke, no longer able to resist the urge of breathing. There was fire everywhere, but it still seemed as dark as night. I heard screams, I couldn't place which direction they were coming from, it was like the noise was echoing through my head and nowhere else. I'm not sure how I knew, but I knew those screams belonged to people who were important to me. I started running blinding, coughing and starting to feel my eyes burn because of the smoke. It was like I was running on a treadmill, like no matter how fast I ran, I never got closer to the screams. Finally, I gave up, collapsing to the ground, dry heaving as panic overtook my thoughts. Just as I was ready to give up and let myself go, a face flashed in front of me, burnt, mangled, that had a horrid odor. At meeting the melted eyes of my mother's I let out a scream.

Instantly I was back in the Impala, now laying half off of the back bench, drenched in sweat, with a sore throat. We were parked on the side of the road, and it was dark outside, other than that, I had no idea where we were. Apparently, I had fallen asleep at some point during the drive, something I don't usually do. "Sorry." I croaked, sitting up slowly, based on how stiff I was, I had apparently been laying in that position for a while. "Just a nightmare."

Sam scoffed. "Yeah, just a nightmare." He rolled his eyes, and turned away, letting the subject drop for now. He knew I was trying to play it down, and I knew that eventually, he'd want me to talk about it. I really, really did not want to talk about it. Dean didn't turn around right a way, though, he locked eyes with me. The older Winchester looked concerned and almost empathetic. Great, now I had worried both of them, I'd be back on watch for who knows how long. After I turned away, looking out the dark window and breaking eye contact, Dean put the Impala back into drive and turned back on the highway. We drove for in silence for about fifteen minutes, just long enough to make me completely embarrassed and uncomfortable about the whole ordeal.

After what felt like was an eternity Dean finally turned on some music and started talking with Sam again. Once I got relaxed again, I started paying attention to the road signs, trying to figure out where we were at. Ohio, close to Dayton, to be exact, which turned out to be where we were staying that night. It felt weird to be in a city again, I lived in a small town and only got to visit my favorite cities once or twice a year, but it was refreshing.

I started to put my shoes back on and stretch when we pulled up to an old trashy motel. The hunters' usual place of choice. Above the main entrance, there was a simple painted sign "Fairborn Hotel" in art deco styled peeling red paint. It was poorly lit from a few lightbulbs pointing up towards it. There were two women dressed in tight clothing and wearing just too much makeup for it to still be considered traditionally pretty, waiting outside of the door. Hookers, I was almost sure of it, they seemed nice enough, though, and were expected in this part of town. It was a rough area, nothing that the Winchesters weren't used too, and no worse than the trailer parks from my home town. So, we unloaded our duffles from the trunk and walked up to the office. Dean flashed a knowing glance at the two girls and gave them a wink. Sam just seemed uncomfortable by their presence and I gave them a light smile, which they returned.

"Yeah, can we get..." Dean was looking down at the wad of cash he had hustled off of someone two weeks ago. We were only staying one night, so the room shouldn't have been more than fifty dollars. "One room?" He was turned towards me and Sam, asking us if that was okay. Sammy responded with a "Whatever" and I gave him a questioning look. "Yeah, one room for ..." The girl who was sweet, but not overly friendly, gave us two keys to our room and pointed us in the right direction. As we walked back out into the still warm, September air, I took a deep breath, trying to calm my mind.

"Just nine more hours tomorrow and we will be in Branson," Dean said flopping down on one of the beds still fully clothed. "Aside from Shepherd of the Hills, what do we know about this place?" He asked as Sam went straight to setting up his laptop on the other bed. I stood in the doorway looking around, awkwardly holding my duffle. It had been almost a month now and it was moments like this that reminded me just how short a time I knew them.

"Uh, it's a touristy area, lots of old people and singers that couldn't make it anywhere else. There's an amusement park, lots of mini-golf places, and lots of theaters and weird specialty shops." The younger brother said absent-mindedly as he scrolled through whatever web page he was looking at.

"I'm, um, just going to go take a shower," I said softly, realizing that neither Winchester was going to direct me where I needed to sleep. I knew I wanted to sleep with Dean, but I wasn't sure if we were there yet in our relationship, or if Dean thought that it would be a dead give away. However, the thought of the two grown brothers sharing a bed, or me with Sam just seemed even more ludicrous. So, I did what I do best, procrastinate.

While the water pressure was complete shit, and I was pretty sure that was mold growing on the ceiling, it was nice and relaxing to take a hot shower. It was almost healing, the feeling of the almost two hot water pounding against my back as I leaned my head against the wall. Biting my lip I fought back tears. It was my fault, their deaths, and who knows how many others were my fault. If I had done more research if I had taken my head out of the sand and realized that everything I was studying was real... I thought back to how excited I was when I first found out, how cool I thought it was that they hunted together. It was like they were superheroes to me, and I wanted to be one too. They weren't though, and neither was I, we were just normal people, normal people who had to fight against things bigger than us for the sake of others. No one else could get hurt while I was around, I knew now, and I wouldn't let that knowledge go to waste.

 **Okay so there is chapter 28, that's insane! I may be wrong but I think that this is officially the longest fanfic I ever written, published and none published. Let me know what you think, and what you might like to see! I know that these last few chapters have been a little slow, and the last hunt was pretty short, but things will be getting back into full swing in the next couple of chapters!**


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